Angel in Disguise
by Kishiro Kitsune
Summary: Roxas is your typical rich teenage boy. He's popular at school, gets good grades, and gets whatever he wants. Then his twin brother, Sora, falls over a blitzball, breaks his leg, and ends up in the hospital. And that's when it all starts. Shonen ai
1. 1 Roxas: Meander

_**Disclaimer**_: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to Square Enix and Disney.

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Hello everyone! Now, I have a good excuse for posting this when I said I was taking a break for **NaNoWriMo**. You see, this is my novel for NaNoWriMo! (it's just a fanfiction novel). So prepare yourself for 50,000 words of Kingdom Hearts fun!

Each chapter with be written in first person POV, with the majority of the chapters being in _**Roxas's POV**_. And the pairings are a little difficult for even me to figure out. It'll probably be my usual favorites. (Squall/Cloud, Zack/Aerith, Tidus/Yuna, Wakka/Lulu are the pairings that are set in stone.) I'm still working with Kairi, Sora, and Riku and Roxas, Axel, and Namine. I have no idea how I'm going to do this. Who knows, Kairi may end up with Pence again.

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Angel in Disguise

_1. Roxas: Meander_

Sora has never been the brightest crayon in the box, not by any means. I mean, he could hold a fifteen minute conversation about _nerds candies _with the _cat_. Sometimes I'm ashamed to call him my twin.

But that's beside the point. The point is that Sora can be a little slow sometimes. And when Riku challenged him to a game of blitz ball, well, I knew it wouldn't end very well. Simply put, Sora isn't very good at blitz ball or any other sport for that matter. He can barely manage to walk and chew gum at the same time. So why he thought he could actually win against Riku, who is actually really good at sports (for an art geek), I don't understand. What confuses me even more is that Kairi and Naminé, both of whom have grown up with me and Sora, encouraged it.

It started off as a normal day. My alarm clock went off and I picked it up and threw it against the wall where it, annoyingly, continued to ring. So then I got up and jammed my thumb against the off button until it finally shut off. And then, in my usual sleepy daze, I walked out of my room and down the hall to the bathroom where I spent the next ten minutes yelling at Sora through the door until he finally comes out completely awake and all _cheerful_. How can anyone be that damn cheerful that early in the morning? It's not natural and no one else in the family is like that, except for maybe mom, but she's a little crazy. Not psycho, metal-ward facility crazy, just normal mom crazy.

Anyway, after I got out of the bathroom and was feeling a little more awake, I ventured downstairs to try and snag some breakfast without Sora spotting me. But like always, he did and so I was stuck down there for the remainder of the morning listening to him chatter away about something. I was still half asleep then, so I really don't remember what he was talking about.

After breakfast I meandered-

You know, "meandered" is a funny word. Most people don't really use that word in normal conversation. It's fun to say though. Meandered.

Sorry.

After breakfast I meandered back up to my room and got dressed. In what? Just my normal summer clothes. White pants and a black shirt with a white checkered pattern around the sleeves.

The next thing I new Sora was in my room raiding my closet because he forgot to take his laundry downstairs for the maid to clean. The one chore we actually have and somehow, every week, he ends up forgetting until I storm into his room, because half of my clothes are missing, and I'm the one who drags the enormous pile of clothes down the stairs and into the laundry room so the maid can clean them.

Maybe Sora has short term memory?

Anyway, after Sora stole my clothes he bounced - yes, _bounced _- over to me and proceeded to drag me out of my room and down the hallway and then down the stairs, all the while telling me about how he promised we'd meet "the gang" down at the beach by ten-thirty.

I _do not _remember agreeing to that. But it's Sora, and what Sora wants to do, Sora does. And since there's no way I'm letting him go out to the beach on his own, I'm always the one who gets stuck going along with his adventures. Hey, at least I'm smart enough to know that coconuts do not make a good substitute for a baseball. But anyway…

We biked out to the beach where Sora collided with the bike rack and ended up flying off the bike over the handlebars. I laughed at him and got off my bike before I pushed it into the rack and chained it.

Sora managed to not get hurt as he chained up his bike as well.

We continued on to our usual meeting spot down by the docks and along the way Sora just had to stop and chase a sand crab. He's such a kid. Long story short, the sand crab pinched his finger and made it bleed and I had to listen to him whine about it the rest of the way to the docks.

By the time we reached the docks everyone else was already there. Even from a distance I could see the blonde hair and white dress of my best friend, Naminé, and the red hair and pink dress of Kairi. The two were sitting on the dock with their notebooks, probably talking about the comic they're working on.

Down in the water I saw Tidus, who had already fallen and gotten his blonde hair soaked. Wakka stood nearby with his easily noticeable orange hair that spiked up in the front. He was holding a blitz ball and laughing at the pissed look on Tidus's face. Selphie stood on the edge of the beach in her, most likely custom made, yellow dress with her brown hair perfectly curled like always.

It was only a matter of time before Tidus did something stupid to ruin her "perfect hair" and piss her off.

And then there was Riku, who I hated. A lot. Unfortunately, I have to put up with him because he's Sora's best friend. Even more unfortunate is that the three of us and Kairi grew up together so we know frickin' _everything _about each other. Trust me, that's not always a good thing.

I suppose Riku and I got along once upon a time, but now we can't stand being around each other. In some ways we're complete opposites. He's tall with longish white hair and green eyes and I'm on the short side with spiky blonde hair and blue eyes. He's good at sports but prefers anything art related, particularly painting and theatre. I'm okay at art stuff but I prefer anything sports related.

We do have some things in common. We both look out for Sora and have the same friends and go to the same school. We've both grown up in the same neighborhood ever since we were born.

"Riku!" Sora yelled as he ran over to the white-haired bastard.

I ignored the two as Riku hugged Sora and picked him up before spinning him around-- I mean really, what guy picks up another guy and hugs him while spinning him around? If it weren't for the fact the Riku flirts with all the girls at school I would swear he was gay.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. After all, my older brother Squall is gay. He even lives with his boyfriend and is planning on proposing soon.

I paused by the edge of the water to say hello to Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie and then I continued on to the docks to sit with Kairi and Naminé for a while.

That's one of the many things that Riku has always made fun of me for. I have always preferred hanging out with Naminé and Kairi because, while they are eccentric, they've always been the most reliable and the sanest of my friends.

"Hey, Roxas." Naminé greeted me without looking up. "Did you have fun getting here?" She asked, knowing that even a simple walk down the street with Sora could be eventful.

"Sora found a sand crab and it pinched his finger and made him bleed." I told them as I sat down between them.

Kairi laughed and set down her pencil before she looked up at me.

One of the most striking things about Kairi is her eyes. Her eyes are this beautiful violet-blue color that I have always admired. Sora and Riku have also always made fun of me for it and tease me about having a crush on her. It's really the two of them who have a crush on her, and I always end up threatening to tell her to get the two of them to shut up.

"That sounds like Sora." Kairi said fondly. Did I mention that she likes Sora and Riku? And not just in the 'oh, we're just friends' sort of way. Am I going to tell them? Hell no! It's too much fun to watch them try and get her attention. "Did he ride his bike into the rack again?"

I nodded. "Yeah. And he went flying over the handlebars."

This time, both Kairi and Naminé laughed, probably imagining the scene play out.

I leaned back, supported by my arms, and relaxed, completely at ease with the girls. I knew they wouldn't push me off the dock or take my shoes and run away with them or anything stupid like that. That wasn't their idea of fun and I was thankful for that.

"Tidus!" I heard Selphie shriek, followed by a loud splash.

I looked over at them and sighed when I saw that Selphie had been knocked over by the blitz ball and that her expensive dress was soaked.

"Ooo, Tidus is gonna get it now." Kairi said, leaning forward to watch.

"Selphie should know better than to get that close to the water." Naminé remarked. "She does it every time and ends up 'ruining' her clothes." She drew air quotes when she said "ruining".

Naminé is different from most of the girls I know. She's from a very wealthy family like the rest of us, but you'd never know that unless you visited her house. She doesn't wear all the expensive clothes or jewelry. She doesn't go out and buy expensive things that she doesn't need and she doesn't go buy things so she has something to brag about. She doesn't even have a car.

Not that you really need a car when living on Destiny Island.

Naminé prefers simple things. In fact, I swear that she has seven of those little white dresses plus some in different styles for winter and school dances. I don't see how she keeps them so clean all the time. Not once in the ten years that I've know her have I ever seen a mark or stain on one of them.

"Uh-oh." I heard Kairi mutter.

I look back over at the others just in time to see Sora picking up the blitz ball. I jumped to my feet and hurried off the dock, vaguely aware of Naminé and Kairi right behind me. I knew I had to get down there and try and stop him before something bad happened.

By the time we got down there we were too late. Riku had already challenged Sora to a one-on-one game and they were heading out into the water to play.

Now normally I wouldn't have been too worried. After all, Sora was always getting hurt but he also would bounce right back from any injury. And any injury that Tidus or Wakka or Riku would get was just laughed off, even the time Tidus broke his arm and leg in the same day trying to skateboard.

But that particular day I had a bad feeling that something was going to happen and since everything else that I had predicted that day happened, I figured there was a good chance of something bad happening then.

"Go Sora!" Kairi yelled, which wasn't too surprising. She usually did support their little contests. Half of the time the contests were over her, although she never knew that.

What was surprising was that _Naminé _started cheering on Sora too. She always sat there and watched the contests, but she had never actually cheered for anyone. She must have been hanging out with the other girls a lot recently.

There were a lot more people in our group then, but we didn't all get together at once usually. Wakka's girlfriend, Lulu, usually joined us so it was unusual that she wasn't there that day.

"Don't encourage him!" I exclaimed. There must have been a hint of worry in my voice, because both Naminé and Kairi looked at me in surprise.

"Is something wrong?" Kairi asked.

"I have a bad feeling." I replied. "Call it 'twin intuition' or whatever, but I really think that something bad is going to happen."

Right after I said that I heard Sora cry out in pain. I turned around just in time to see him fall into the water. Before I could even think about moving to help him, Riku was right there lifting him out of the water and trying to help him stand.

I felt the pain in my own leg before I heard Sora scream.

It's always been that way; Sora gets hurt and somehow I feel pain wherever it is that he gets hurt. It goes the other way around too. Kairi and Naminé call it our 'twin connection' or something like that.

"Riku, pick him up!" I yelled, unable to move at that moment. "His leg is broken, you idiot!"

Riku cursed and lifted Sora up off his feet. He carried him bridal style out of the water and then started down the beach. "We have to get him to a hospital!" He yelled back to us.

Finally I could move and the pain in my leg subsided. Selphie forgot all about how angry she was at Tidus and Wakka and moved closer to them to talk. Kairi hurried on ahead to walk beside Riku and console Sora. Naminé walked beside me, silently offering me support.

"He'll be okay, Roxas." She said a few minutes later once we came to the sidewalk. She smiled and slipped her small hand into mine.

"Thanks, Naminé." I said, truly meaning it.

* * *

At that moment I didn't have time to think about what trouble Naminé holding my hand would bring as we walked through town. And I certainly wasn't thinking about what horrible rumors would spread with Riku carrying Sora through town. Actually, I probably wasn't thinking at all. By that time I was acting on autopilot; the lights were on but nobody was home.

I don't even remember walking into the hospital. All that I remember is getting Sora into the emergency room and having to wait a few minutes to get him in. And then there was all the paperwork. You'd think that for all the accidents that Sora has that they would have records at the hospital. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, Sora had never been hurt badly enough to be admitted to the hospital.

I know that somehow I managed to fill out the papers and that once I was done Naminé led me over to the chairs so I could sit down. Actually, it was more like I collapsed into a boneless heap in the chair.

It took me over ten minutes of laying bonelessly in the chair to realize that I hadn't called mom and dad to tell them.

_Fuck_.

"Naminé." I whispered, poking her in the arm. "I need your phone."

Naminé looked at me for a moment, probably confused about why I wanted her phone. She seemed to understand that it was important, as she leaned down and unclipped it from her blue sandals and handed it to me.

I quickly dialed my dad's cell and had to wait four rings before he answered. "Dad? Are you too busy?"

My dad sighed. _"What has Sora done this time?"_

'_How does he always know?'_ I wondered. "He broke his leg playing blitz ball with Riku."

"_Really?" _He sounded surprised. It was probably because Sora was always the one who caused other people to get hurt. It was never on purpose or anything, it would just kind of… happen. "Does your mother know yet?"

"No, I'll call her next." I said. "Or should I not call her? I don't want to worry her."

"I'll call her." My dad said. "You just stay down there with Sora. You'll have to call Squall to tell him. I don't have his number."

"Okay, I will." I agreed. I knew that Squall's reaction would be calm like dad's, unlike mom, who probably got all hysterical when dad told her.

Dad told me he'd drop by after work to take Sora home and then we hung up. I told Namine that I had to call Squall and then I dialed Cloud's number, knowing that Squall's cell probably had a dead battery like always. Not that Cloud was any better. Usually Tifa or Aerith picked up the phone. Occasionally I've ended up talking to Zack, Rinoa, or Yuffie and I think Vincent might have picked it up once.

Cloud is Squall's boyfriend and everyone always says we look alike because of our spiky blonde hair and blue eyes. I don't see it. I mean, sure we have the same hair and eye color, but we really don't look that much alike.

The girls, Zack, and Vincent are Cloud and Squall's closest friends. Tifa has long black hair and brown eyes and tends to wear black and white. She's really strong and has these huge- erm, well… breasts. Hey, it's not like I sit there and stare at them or anything! (Like Sora did when we first met her.) It's just hard to _not _notice when you're squished against them because she just _had _to hug you!

Anyway, Aerith has long brown hair that she always wears braided and I think her eyes are green. She's married to Zack, who is Cloud's best friend. Zack's pretty cool, although I think he gets on Squall's nerves sometimes. He's got black hair and blue eyes.

I don't see much of Rinoa, Yuffie, and Vincent anymore. From what I can remember, Rinoa has dark, dark brown hair and brown eyes. She used to wear a lot of blue. Yuffie is crazy and comes from a family of ninja's. She's got short black hair and dark violet eyes. Vincent is the one I've seen the least, but he's the hardest to forget. He's pale and has black hair and reddish-brown eyes. I've never seen him in any colors except red, black, and gold.

Going back to calling Cloud's cell phone…

I ended up getting a hold of Tifa, who told me that Squall and Cloud were off doing something and that they'd be back later. I told her about Sora and his broken leg and she laughed and said something along the lines of, "It's about time! It's unnatural for a kid that clumsy to have never had a broken bone before now!"

I got her to promise to pass along the message and then said goodbye. I hung up the phone and handed it back to Namine, who clipped it back onto her sandal.

I remember that about an hour later, Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka left, knowing that there was nothing they could do to help. That and Tidus was getting restless.

Riku, Kairi, Namine, and I stayed to hear how bad the injury was and to visit with Sora once he was all fixed up. So we sat around for a while longer before Riku got too frustrated.

"What the hell is taking so long?!" Riku yelled in frustration, startling many of the people sitting around in chairs.

It had been around a half hour since Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka left, so we had been there for almost two hours. We still hadn't heard anything about Sora, so we were starting to get a little worried.

"Riku, calm down." Kairi said, laying her hand over Riku's. "It's Sora. He'll be just fine. People get broken legs all the time."

None of us wanted to say out loud how unusual it was for us to hear nothing even after sitting in the waiting room for nearly two hours.

Thankfully, we had Namine with us that day. Personally, I think that she is the smartest of any of us. She was the only one of us who thought to get up and go over to the counter and ask about Sora. And when she walked back over to us she had a big smile on her face.

"Sora's fine." She told us. "His leg is in a cast now and he's resting in room 138. We can go visit him whenever we want to as long as we're quiet."

I breathed a sigh of relief. Sora was okay. Someone just forgot to tell us. It's wasn't like it had never happened to us before. It was just that usually Sora was there to check at the counter every five minutes because he felt guilty that Riku or Tidus or whoever got hurt.

"Roxas?"

I looked up when Namine said my name and gently touched my arm.

"Why don't you go back first. Kairi, Riku, and I will call your dad, Squall, and Wakka." She offered. "We'll be back there in a few minutes."

I nodded and stood up. "Okay. Thank you, Namine."

* * *

Room 138. I remember so clearly the first time I walked into that room. I saw Sora sitting on a bed with his leg wrapped in this huge neon green cast. He was laughing, which I thought was a little odd.

Then I saw him.

That pale, lanky redhead with the emerald green eyes.

The one who would later stop my heart in it's tracks with a single look.

The pyromaniac nutcase who I thought was out to ruin my life.

Axel.

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End Chapter

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Have I mentioned before how much I _**love **_writing in Roxas's POV? No? Well, now I have.

It's weird. Normally I have a hard time working with character's like Roxas, but this time it's coming easy to me. Maybe because I make Roxas a bit like me. (laughs)

I should be able to crank these chapter out pretty quickly, and right now I am _**so **_far behind. But with it up on here with people actually reading it and waiting for more it makes me want to write more. It's no wonder I finish up fanfics more easily than original stories.


	2. 2 Kairi: Change

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to Square Enix and Disney.

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You know, it's funny. Normally I don't reply to reviews that say "I love this story!" or something like that. I have a hard time replying to them. But then you get a little coffee in me...

Yeah, drinking coffee on an empty stomach probably wasn't my best idea in the world. But hey, it's NaNoWriMo! I'm allowed to do stupid crap like drink beyond too much coffee and Pepsi. (hugs Pepsi bottle) I love you, Pepsi!

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Angel in Disguise

_2. Kairi: Change_

The day that Sora broke his leg…

I remember it so well. Although, the time between Sora falling over the blitz ball to us getting to the hospital and being able to see him is a little fuzzy. You'd think we'd be used to it with all the times that Tidus, Wakka, and Riku have gotten hurt and had to be admitted there.

Maybe it was just that we were in shock because it was actually _Sora _who got hurt for once.

But I digress…

That day started out like any other. I got woken up by my dog Pluto, who thinks that I like being licked awake. Don't get me wrong, I love the little mutt to pieces but he _really _gets on my nerves sometimes.

Anyway, I got up and changed out of my silk nightgown and into my favorite pink dress. It was perfect for trips down to the beach. Then I went downstairs and kissed my nanny good morning before I fed Pluto his breakfast. Then I sat down and ate breakfast by myself while Cookie, my family's chef, bustled about the kitchen and cleaned up.

I quickly ate and handed my plate and silverware to Cookie and then I let Pluto out into the backyard. I then walked back through the house and said goodbye to Cookie and my nanny before I went out the front door and wheeled my bike off the porch.

Bike shorts had never been more useful in that moment, as I pedaled over to Naminé's house. She lived right next door to me so it never took me too long to go pick her up. She was waiting for me out on her huge wrap around porch, easily noticeable in her usual white dress. She hopped on the back of my bike and I pedaled us out to the beach where we were meeting the others.

Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie were already there waiting for us, which wasn't much of a surprise. The three of them lived in the same neighborhood. Said neighborhood was right next to the beach.

Naminé and I greeted the others and then left them to play Blitzball or, in Selphie's case, yell at Tidus. We walked over to the dock and sat down, dangling our feet over the edge.

"So how are things with you?" I asked Naminé. "We haven't had time to talk lately."

Naminé smiled. "I'm fine. How are you doing? I mean, wince you found out that Sora and Riku are… you know."

I winced and stared down at the water. "I don't know." I admitted. "I've always liked them, you know? We grew up together and…" I tilted my head back and looked up at the sky. "And I always used to dream that the three of us would live together some day. Just the three of us." I sighed and looked over at Naminé, wondering if she understood.

She did.

"Kai, just because they're dating doesn't mean you can't hang out with them any more." She told me. "They would never not include you. To those two you're not a little sister or even an older sister. You're not even just a best friend. You are so much more to them. I can see it in the way they look at you and how they interact with you." She smiled and leaned forward. "I could never imagine the three of you not being together. It'd be like Selphie never fussing with Tidus."

Despite myself, I found myself giggling.

"I have to ask," Naminé said, looking over at me. I could see the curiosity in her bright blue eyes. "Where are Roxas and I in your whole 'living with Sora and Riku' dream?"

"You two are our neighbors." I said with a smile.

"To-together?" Naminé asked, sounding surprised.

I nodded. "Yeah, I guess. I mean, I never really thought about it." I bit my lip as a thought crossed my mind. I looked up at Naminé, my expression serious. "Does Roxas know?"

Like always, Naminé knew exactly what I meant. She shook her head. "I don't think so." She said. "I'm sure he would have said something if he knew. Hey," She laid her hand on my shoulder and smiled. "Lets change the subject. How's your pen pal doing?"

I could feel myself blushing as I thought of my pen pal. I had recently gotten a photo of him and has sent him one of me in return.

"Pence?" I asked, knowing full well where Naminé was trying to lead the conversation. "He's fine. He sent a photo. Do you want to see?"

Naminé's eyes lit up and she nodded eagerly. "Yeah! Lets see him!"

I carefully unbuttoned the pouch on my belt and slid out my wallet. I unsnapped that and pulled out a picture of Pence and handed it to Naminé.

"Oh, he's cute!" Naminé squealed. "You seem to like these brunet's, huh Kai?"

I blushed. I know I did. I was probably as red as Sora's old red jumpsuit that he wore when he was fourteen. Instead of falling into Naminé's trap, I fought back.

"How's that boy we met at camp last year?" I asked, trying to hide my smirk. "What was his name? Marluxia?"

To my satisfaction, Naminé turned cherry red at the mention of Marluxia. She wordlessly handed me back my photo of Pence and then opened her sketchbook. She must have had it in her small white book bag.

"Lets start working on the comic." She suggested. "Do you have the story line?"

I nodded and tugged my small notebook from my pocket. We spent the next fifteen minutes working on it until Roxas arrived and the chaos of Sora breaking his leg began. Naminé and I didn't have any more time to talk until after we were allowed to go in and see Sora.

We let Roxas go first while I called their dad, Riku called Wakka, and Naminé tried to get a hold of Squall. Needless to say, she ended up talking to Aerith instead. Squall's phone was always dead and Cloud never answered his.

Once we were done making phone calls, we walked back to Sora's room. Just as we got to the door, Roxas came bolting out and ran into Riku. He barely paused to apologize, an act that made Riku raise his eyebrows in surprise.

"I wonder what's wrong." I heard Naminé whisper.

We walked in cautiously and were relieved to see that Sora looked just fine and that he was laughing about something. It was when I saw who the other occupant of the room was that I knew why Roxas ran out of the room.

The year that Naminé and I went to summer camp we made some new friends and we met people who we didn't get along with at all. Like us, they were all camp councilors and since we were all stuck in the same cabin, we saw each other a lot.

That's where Naminé met Marluxia. She was in charge of the eleven-year-old girls and he was in charge of the eleven-year-old boys, so they got stuck doing activities together. It's a good thing they got along so well.

I, on the other hand, was not so lucky.

I got stuck working with the one person at camp who almost burned down a cabin. His name was Axel and he was the most annoying person at camp. He was even more annoying than Xemnas, who constantly talked about darkness, and Saix, who was obsessed with the moon and followed Xemnas around like a lost puppy. It was kind of creepy.

I disliked Axel from the very start. I don't know what it was about him that made me not like him. It was one of those unexplainable things.

So when I saw that bright red hair and that cocky smirk, I knew right away that he was the reason that Roxas left. Fortunately, unlike Roxas, I am a pro at ignoring Axel. I didn't once look at him as I marched over to Sora and sat down in one of the chairs beside his bed. Riku joined me just seconds later, but Naminé waved at Sora before she walked over to talk to Axel.

That traitor.

"You guys should have seen the look on Roxas's face when Axel started talking to him." Sora said. "It was so funny! I don't think I've ever seen him turn so red! What was it that you said about the color, Axel?"

"I said he invented a new shade of Crayola red. We can call it 'cherry Roxas red.'" Axel said.

Riku snorted, Naminé giggled, and I scowled. I flat-out refused to laugh at anything that Axel said, even if it was a little funny. I wondered what Axel did or said to Roxas to make him blush, but knowing Axel it was something crude and perverted.

"How are you feeling?" I asked Sora, trying my best to ignore Axel. I had to pretend like I wasn't the least bit curious about why Axel of all people was in the hospital. I'll admit that I was a little curious, but who wouldn't be?

"I'm fine, Kairi." Sora cheerfully told me. "I can't feel a thing."

Riku snorted. "Hell, Sora. They've probably got so many painkillers in you that you wouldn't even notice if a bomb went off." He smirked and leaned forward. "You probably wouldn't even feel it if I were to tickle you right now."

I looked away, not wanting to watch the two flirt. I may have accepted the two being together, but that didn't mean I wanted to watch them flirt and make out and stuff.

I… I grew up with them. Riku was my first crush and Sora was a close second. They've been my best friends since forever and I love both of them so much. And now… now I don't know anymore.

Everything's changing.

Even me.

* * *

End Chapter

* * *

I'm going to be switching back and forth every chapter between Roxas and another character. I still say that Roxas is easier for me to write. And in the next chapter I get to write the scene that inspired this whole fanfiction!

Back to writing I go!


	3. 3 Roxas: Emotions

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to Square Enix and Disney.

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Well, I've really gone and done it this time. What have I done, you ask? I've gotten myself addicted to Star Wars. (bangs head against desk) And right in the middle of NaNoWriMo too. Crap.

0-0-0

Angel in Disguise

_3. Roxas: Emotions_

When I first met Axel that day in the hospital, I hated him. But at the same time I was curious. He felt so familiar to me. It was almost as if I had met him before then.

Now I know why he seemed familiar. It was because I heard Kairi complain about him before. She had met him at summer camp and had to work with him.

At first I just ignored Axel and walked across the room to talk to Sora and see how he was feeling. I barely got halfway across the room before Axel spoke.

"Who's the gorgeous angel who's here visiting you, Sora?"

I stopped in my tracks and looked at him in shock. I could feel myself turning some shade of red. "M-me?" I squeaked.

I couldn't comprehend why a complete stranger - and a _guy _no less - would say something like that. I mean, what normal person goes and says something like that?

Of course, Axel wasn't exactly what you would call "normal". No, he was more of the "anti-normal" kind of guy.

"Don't mind him, Roxas." Sora told me. "That's just Axel talk for, 'Hey there sexy, lets make babies.'"

I choked and my mind ground to a halt. Part of me couldn't believe that Sora - my _baby brother _- said something like that. The other part of me was cursing out Riku for corrupting Sora.

I kid.

The other part of my mind wasn't functioning correctly. My thoughts were little more than a jumbled mess of words and stray ideas. I think the one stray thought that crossed my mind the most was, _'Only Sora, after only a half hour of knowing someone, could joke and kid around with that person as if he'd known them forever.'_

"Ha, ha, very funny." I remember hearing Axel say. "Although," I didn't have to look at Axel's face to know he was smirking. "I wouldn't really mind…"

That was it. I couldn't handle any more of it. Before I realized what I was doing, I was moving across the room and fleeing out the door. I vaguely remember bumping into Riku and apologizing for it, which was something I normally wouldn't have done.

Hell, normally I wouldn't have even run out the door like that. To this day I still don't know why I bolted like that. Maybe it was because of everything else that had happened with Sora breaking his leg. Maybe it was just because of Axel. I honestly don't know.

I soon found myself outside leaning against the side of the building. I ignored all of the stares and sad looks people kept giving me and just looked down at the ground and tried to sort out my thoughts.

So Sora's roommate was a strange redhead who flirted with me. Was it really worth freaking out over? Was it really that weird? I mean, I was used to almost all of the girls, and some guys, at school flirting with me, so that wasn't the reason I ran.

Why do emotions have to be so complicated? They do nothing but get you in trouble!

But then… if we didn't have feelings then we'd be so different than, oh say, a rock. Although both Naminé and Lulu insist that rocks have feelings too, which is ridiculous. I think they were just messing with Sora and Tidus. It's a rock! It's made up of pieces of dirt and leaves and stuff that have hardened (or melted and then cooled) over thousands of years!

Anyway…

I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't even notice that Naminé was right beside me until she tapped me on the arm and said my name. I looked at her, startled, and when I looked into her eyes I was instantly calmed.

The only way I can explain the way Naminé's presence comforts me is like this: it's like drinking a hot cup of cocoa on a cold day. You can literally feel the warmth travel down your body and leave a tingling sensation behind.

I don't know what I would have done without Naminé. She's my rock; my anchor. She keeps me from doing stupid crap and she has always been able to cheer me up by doing little more than just being with me.

It's her gift.

"Roxas, are you alright?" She asked me, concerned. "Sora's worried about you. Axel is too, I think."

I flinched at Axel's name and Naminé must have noticed because she sighed and hugged me. She wrapped her arms around me and stepped forward and laid her head on my chest. She hadn't done that in years and in that moment I marveled over how much taller I was than her. We used to be the same height.

"Don't mind, Axel. He's practically harmless." She told me, her voice soft. "He may be a big flirt, but he's a nice guy once you get to know him." She pulled away and gave me a comforting smiled. "Ready to come back inside?"

I shook my head. "Not yet." I told her. "I need a few more minutes."

Naminé nodded and leaned up against the wall beside me. She understood. She always understood.

Just like I told Naminé, I was ready to go back inside a few minutes later. I wasn't exactly ready to face Axel. Actually, I really wanted to run home and crawl into bed and wish that the whole day was just a dream. But I couldn't for two reasons:

Number one, that was my baby brother in there with the broken leg. Number two, if it wasn't a dream then I would never hear the end of it from Riku. He would tease me until the day he'd die. Maybe even longer since, if I know Riku, he'll somehow manage to piss me off in the afterlife too.

Sora beamed when he saw me. "Roxas, come sign my cast!" He exclaimed excitedly. "Look! Even Axel signed!"

When I got closer I saw Axel's name written in thick, looping cursive handwriting that I would soon become familiar with. I tore my eyes away from the bright red lettering that practically glowed against the neon green and took the dark blue pen that Sora offered me.

"I don't see the point of this." I said as I uncapped the pen. "I'm your brother. What do you need my signature on your cast for?"

"Just sign the damn cast, Roxas." Riku said grumpily.

He must have found out first hand how "friendly" Axel could be. And by "friendly" I mean "flirty". Judging by how grumpy Riku was, Axel had been flirting with Sora.

That pissed me off.

Scowling, I signed Sora's cast and then handed the blue pen back to him. "Dad's going to be picking you up soon." I told him. "Who's going to ride back to the house with you?"

"Riku is." Sora said.

Part of me was disappointed that it wasn't me who Sora chose. On the other hand, having Riku go with Sora gave me the chance to walk with Kairi and Naminé. I also had to go back to the beach to get our bikes. I hoped that Naminé would be able to ride one of them.

Our dad arrived a half hour later and he and Riku helped Sora out to the car. Kairi and Naminé followed to help in any way they could, but I stayed behind for a few minutes.

Why? Because Axel asked me to.

I know how stupid that sounds. Why did I stay behind to talk to a complete stranger just because he asked me to? I knew that Kairi didn't like him and neither did Riku, although I could have cared less what he thought. The thing was, Sora liked him and so did Naminé and I could usually trust Naminé's judgment. Sora tends to trust too many people, so I wanted to make sure that Axel was a good guy in case he and Sora had somehow managed to exchange phone numbers. I was very protective of Sora.

"Roxas, I want you to have something." Axel told me. "C'mere real quick."

I hesitated and then walked over to his bedside. I never even noticed how frail he looked laying there in that bed.

"I get out of here in a day or two." He told me as he scrawled something down on a piece of paper. "And I'll need some excuse to get the hell out of that house and get some fresh air." He held out the scrap of paper expectantly, and I gingerly took it.

I looked at the looping cursive of him name and the tidy numbers and then looked him in the eyes. "What's this for?" I asked, trying not to sound too curious.

"It's my phone number, got it memorized?" He asked, tapping the side of his head. "Make sure you ask for me. I live with a few people and usually one of then gets to the phone before I do."

I nodded stiffly and stuffed the paper in my pocket. I left the room without promising to call.

0-0-0

Somehow I found myself pushing the bikes through town with Kairi and Naminé. It was just my luck to end up with the two on a day that they felt like shopping. I was really lucky that Selphie wasn't with us.

"Roxas, lets go in there!" Naminé said, tugging on my sleeve.

When I looked at the store she was pointing at and saw all the statues and stuffed toys in the window I flat out refused. There was no way I was going to be caught dead in that store.

Five minutes later I was in the store with Naminé and Kairi and was listening to them squeal over the stuffed toys. There was only reason why I was in that store and it was because those two knew my weakness.

They knew that if they gave me a pleading look and added in a whimpered, "Please Roxy?" that I would melt like ice cream on a hot summer day and let them do whatever they wanted. It was all because of their eyes; Kairi's unwavering, gorgeous violet and Naminé's piercingly beautiful, calm blue. (They made me write that, by the way.)

"Roxas, isn't this the cutest thing you've ever seen?" Naminé asked me, holding up a fluffy white tiger stuffed toy.

I shifted uncomfortably. "Uh… sure, Naminé." I said unsurely. Then I ducked behind a shelf, hoping they wouldn't ask me anything else. Luckily, I was able to spend the next ten minutes browsing in peace. There were a few things that caught my attention, like the station where you could have custom objects made for you. I spent a few minutes poking around to see what they made and then I moved on.

Naminé and Kairi found me looking at the shelf of model car kits and practically dragged me out of the store with their little plastic shopping bags dangling off their arms.

"Lets go see how Sora's doing." Kairi suggested as she pulled her bike away from the wall of the shop. "Naminé and I have something to give him. We got something for you and Riku too."

I looked at them in surprise. I had seen some of the prices of stuff in there and some of it was pretty expensive. Somehow I just knew they went and spent a lot on us. They always did that.

"You didn't have to get me anything." I told them.

"Don't be silly, Roxas." Kairi said. "We wanted to."

Naminé nodded. "Yeah. We saw it and we knew it was made for you. You'll see." She gave me a wink and hopped up on Sora's bike. "Race you guys!" She yelled as she took off.

"Cheater!" Kairi yelled as she threw her leg over her bike and tore after Naminé.

I watched them go for a second, surprised by how fast they were going. Then I grinned and hopped up on my bike and took off after them. I was easily able to overcome them and laughed the whole way home as they yelled funny insults at me.

I skidded into the grass at my house and vaulted off my bike before making a beeline for the front door. Somehow, Kairi and Naminé caught up to me as I was unlocking and opening the door. The two tackled me and the three of us fell through the doorway, laughing.

We slowly detangled ourselves, still laughing, and then we ran up the stairs to check on Riku and Sora. Kairi managed to get ahead of me when Naminé stumbled and grabbed my arm, so she ran into Sora's room first.

The first things I heard when I ran into the room was Sora's yell of, "Presents!" and Kairi's laugh.

"It's just one present, Sora." Naminé said. "And we got Riku and Roxas something too."

Kairi fished through her bag and pulled out two things wrapped in tissue paper. She handed the white one to Sora and the dark blue one to Riku. Naminé handed me one in red tissue paper.

I carefully unwrapped it, unsure if the object inside was breakable or not.

When I saw what it was, my mind flashed immediately to Axel. The red and silver reminded me of him for some reason.

It was a large, ornate metal key with spiked circles. It looked like it could cause a lot of damage if it were to hit someone.

"It's called 'Bond of Flames.'" Naminé told me softly.

'Bond of Flames.' The name rolled through my head and was accompanied by a figure holding a huge version of it that was covered in flames.

I shivered. What did that mean? Why did the key feel so familiar to me? Why did I think of Axel when I first saw it?

I wouldn't find out any of that until later.

0-0-0

End Chapter

0-0-0

Dun dun dunnnnnn...

I so totally love writing in Roxas's POV, have I mentioned that? Yes? Okay, then I'll shut up about it.


	4. 4 Sora: Hidden

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to Square Enix and Disney.

* * *

Angel in Disguise

_4. Sora: Hidden_

First of all, I'd just like to say I'm nobodies "baby brother". Just because Roxas was born three minutes before me doesn't mean he can call me that! I don't even let Squall call me that! Not that he would anyway.

Anyway, after I broke my leg playing Blitzball with Riku, mom made me stay at home every day. I couldn't get up and walk around or do anything on my own.

I hate being babied. It was all because I was the youngest, but I was sixteen! I could take care of myself! Mom and Roxas obviously didn't think so and I'm sure that even Riku and Kairi had their doubts sometimes. But I knew I could and that's all that mattered.

The only good things about being stuck at home were that I got to play video games whenever I wanted and my friends all brought me presents. And Riku stayed over a lot. It's a surprise that Roxas never found out about us!

Don't get me wrong, I hated hiding things from Roxas. And me dating Riku was the biggest thing that I had ever hid from him. He's my twin. We share everything with each other. We told each other who our first crushes were. The first time that Roxas had a broken bone, I was right there with him. We used to get sick on the exact same days and if Roxas had a nightmare than I'd be right there to comfort him. He did the same for me.

It's weird that Riku and Roxas have never gotten along very well. Maybe that was the reason I didn't want to tell Roxas. I was afraid of what he would think; of what he would say. I wouldn't have been able to handle it if Roxas rejected my feelings or hated me.

For once, I was truly afraid. And that, above everything else, kept me from saying anything to Roxas.

* * *

I was sitting in my room when I first noticed that Roxas seemed preoccupied about something. At first I just brushed it off, thinking that it had something to do with me and my broken leg. But when he kept on walking around and doing nothing all day, I knew it didn't have anything to do with me. Something was wrong with him and I was determined to find out what it was.

I've never been one for sneaky plans or using reverse psychology to get what I want. I'm more of a "act now, question later" kind of person. So I didn't try to be all sneaky, because then Roxas would think something was wrong with me. I just yelled for him to come in my room and then I had him shut the door so I could talk to him in peace.

"What's wrong with you?" I came right out and asked.

"Nothing." Roxas told me.

I wasn't convinced. I crossed my arms over my chest. I could be just as stubborn as him when I wanted to be. "Tell me."

Roxas gave me a warning look. "It's nothing, Sora."

"'Nothing' my ass." I snapped, irritated. "You've been moping around the house and won't even look at me. Something is bothering you and I won't stop bothering you until you tell me."

"It's nothing because I don't even know what's bothering me, okay?!" Roxas snapped back. "It's everything! It's you with your broken leg and Kairi acting all weird around you and Riku! It's this huge class project I've got to get done! It's that Axel guy--" He stopped suddenly and looked away and I knew that it was Axel who had gotten under his skin. Nothing else would have made him so bothered.

"Why would meeting Axel bother you?" I asked, curious. "He seemed really nice."

"I don't know." Roxas says softly. He was staring at the floor by that point and I could feel the confusion pouring off of him. I could tell that he was done talking, so I let the topic go.

"Hey, bet I can kick your butt at Mario cart!" I challenged boldly.

A confused expression crossed Roxas's face for a split second and then he grinned at me. "You're on!"

* * *

After that, Roxas either hid that he was bothered by something or it really was nothing. Of course, being practically confined to the house didn't help very much since I couldn't see him unless he walked by me or the room I was in.

It took me a few days to notice that Roxas kept leaving the house without telling me where he was going. I asked Kairi and Naminé about it, figuring he was hanging out with them, but they hadn't seen him. I even asked Tidus, Selphie, Wakka, and Lulu when they dropped by, but none of them had seen him around either.

Normally I would have just let it go, but being stuck in the house all day was starting to effect my mind. That and I was bored.

So in my boredom, I decided to make figuring out where Roxas was going into a game. And for that game I needed Kairi and Naminé's help. So I called them up and asked them to come over one morning before Roxas left.

They arrived, not ten minutes after I called them, and proceeded to prod me for information. Those two loved detective games.

"Okay, Roxas has been acting weird lately. He won't even talk to me and he's been going out the past few days. I can't even corner him long enough to talk to him." I told them.

"So you want to know where he is going?" Naminé asked me. I could practically see the wheels turning in her head as she tried to think of the best way to go about figuring things out.

I nodded. "Yeah. Leave out no detail."

Kairi giggled. "You're bored, aren't you?" She teased, poking my arm. "You always get like this when you're bored."

I playfully smacked away her hand. "I am not."

Naminé grinned and jotted something down in her notebook. "'Day one: Kairi and I have been sent to stalk Roxas because Sora is bored.' How's that for a beginning?" She asked, looking up.

"Ha, ha." I said dryly. "So I'm a little bored. You would be too if you were stuck inside with a broken leg!"

"Don't worry, Sora." Kairi said. "We'll find out what's up with Roxas."

Naminé nodded. "Yeah! You can leave it to us!"

* * *

I felt better knowing that I had Naminé and Kairi to count on. I know it seems like I was being nosy, but I was being just as protective of Roxas as he always was with me. He's my brother; it's my job to watch out for him.

Even if protecting him meant keeping things from him… I know it doesn't sound like not telling him that I was dating Riku was protecting him, but we had our reputations to uphold! Well, I wouldn't have cared about what others thought of me (and Riku never cared), but what about Roxas? I mean, we're twins. Identical, as a matter of fact, even if we don't really look it since I have light brown hair and he has blonde hair. It's just because Roxas spends more time outside, so the sun bleaches it.

In the eyes of others, since we were identical twins then we are exactly the same. For us, that couldn't be less true at times. There are times that I think Roxas and I are complete opposites. And then we do something like dress exactly alike or finish each others sentences or say things at the exact same time and it reminds me that we have a lot more things in common than what we don't have in common. Does that make sense?

In other words, to me, not telling Roxas about me and Riku was my way of protecting him.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

* * *

End Chapter

* * *

Oddly, Sora is one of the harder characters for me to write in the POV of. Jeez, I really need to get my word count up...

I'll probably end up going back and adding more to this later. It's way too short.


	5. 5 Roxas: Promise

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to Square Enix and Disney.

* * *

Angel in Disguise

_5. Roxas: Promise_

Don't get me wrong, I hated hiding things from Sora. I despised it, actually. But I was so confused then that I didn't want to get him involved. That and I could tell that he was hiding something from me.

Maybe I thought that both of us having a secret would balance things out. Needless to say, that later only made things much more complicated. I wish now that we had just told each other. It would have saved a lot of trouble.

Anyway, after Sora and I had our talk and I kicked his ass in video games, I went back to my room. When I saw Bond of Flames setting innocently on my desk, I knew what I had to do.

I had to call Axel.

I rushed over to my laundry basket and rifled through the clothes until I found the pants I was wearing two days before. I turned out the pockets until I found the scrap of paper with his phone number on it. Then I hunted down the phone and dialed the number. It took only one ring before someone picked up and at first all I heard was someone yelling. But then I heard, "Who are you and what do you want?"

I was a little startled and didn't say anything for a second, which prompted the girl on the other end to snap, "Speak up!"

"I'm Roxas." I said quickly, hoping she wouldn't hang up on me. "Is Axel there?"

"The pyro?" The girl sounded both confused and amused. Then she laughed. "Yeah, whatever. Hang on." She didn't bother to cover the mouthpiece as she yelled for Axel. "Hey Ax-- NO! Not you, Xaldin! Fuck you too! Hey- SHUT UP! Axel! Get your pyro ass down here now and pick up the damn phone!"

I gulped. 'What kind of family does he have?' I wondered. 'Maybe this was a bad idea…'

"Larxene, hang up the phone. I've got it." Axel said, much to my relief. He waited a minute and then sighed. "Larxene! Get off the damn phone!"

"Fine." The girl - Larxene - snapped. "Hey kid, a word of advice: hang up the phone."

She had no idea how tempting it was to do just that at that moment.

"Off, Larx." Axel growled.

"Yeah, yeah." Larxene said. "As if I want to listen to your lame conversation anyway."

I heard the click of the phone as she hung up and then Axel sighed again. "Sorry about that. So, can I ask who I'm talking to?"

"Roxas." I told him.

"Ah! I could hear the excitement in his voice. "Could it be? My angel has called me? I should write down this momentous event!"

I heard him shuffled around for something. Probably a piece of paper. He sure was weird.

"You asked me to call you?" I asked cautiously, wondering if that was the right thing to say. I wanted to see him and get to know him better, but at the same time I wanted to hang up and go play video games with Sora or cook something or go for a run somewhere.

"Yeah! Hey, meet me at the Moon Café at two, okay?" He asked me. "You know where it is, right?"

"Fate Lane." I told him. "It's right off of Destiny Main. I can get there."

"Great! See you at two!" He said before he hung up.

I slowly hung up the phone, wondering what I was getting myself in to. Was it really smart to go meet Axel, a guy I barely knew, at a Café? The only good thing was that it was in a public place where a lot of people were at.

I decided to give him a chance.

* * *

I got to the Moon Café early and slid into a booth. I tried to distract myself by reading the menu, but I couldn't focus on it. So I stared out the window and let my mind drift while I watched people walk by. It was relaxing and before I knew it, Axel was sliding into the seat across from me. 

"I'm a little surprised you came." Axel admitted. "But I'm glad you did." He tugged the menu out of my hands and quickly flipped through it. "Have you been here before?" He asked.

I shook my head. "No." I had walked past it on several occasions and I knew that it was Naminé's favorite place to eat, but I had never been there before then.

"Great." Axel said cheerfully. "They have really good food here, but the best thing is the desserts. They have great lemon cream pie."

That did sound good, so I took his advice and ordered the lemon cream pie and a vanilla Pepsi. He got apple pie and a regular Pepsi.

For a while we sat there and held an awkward conversation. Actually, it was more of an awkward silence than it was a conversation. We didn't talk very much. It wasn't until halfway through our meal that we really started talking.

"You like the pie?" Axel asked me. He was almost finished with his, but I had been picking at mine.

I nodded. "Yeah, it's good." I told him. "Hey Axel, who was that girl that picked up the phone when I called you?"

"You mean Larxene?" He asked. "She's one of my house mates. Actually, she's the most recent; number twelve." He grinned. "We're assigned numbers by order of arrival. The owner of the place is number one."

That was interesting. My curiosity began to get the best of me as I asked Axel more about himself. I found out that he was number eight in the house and that of everyone in the house he hung out with Larxene and a guy named Marluxia the most. I found out that he graduated from my high school when I was a freshman and that he went to the closest community college for three semesters before he stopped going. I asked him why, but he wouldn't tell me.

"So you're a Junior at Destiny, huh?" Axel asked me. "Is old Ansem still teaching that biased history class?"

"You noticed too?" I asked, surprised. "The only other person I know who thinks that is my best friend Naminé. Well, Riku thinks he's a loony old man, so I guess that counts for something."

Axel leaned forward. He was actually interested in what I had to say, which surprised me. Naminé, Kairi, and Sora listened to me but they never really understood. Strangely, Riku never listened but he always understood.

"Tell me about your friends?" Axel asked, giving me the option of telling him or not.

I smiled and told him about my friends, not even worrying about how I barely knew him. By that time I was starting to trust him. I felt comfortable around him, even with him being twenty and me being only seventeen. Once we got talking I didn't feel at all awkward around him.

It's weird. You can start off not liking someone at all. And then you give them a chance and they prove to be the exact opposite of what you thought. Like with Axel, at first I thought he was an obnoxious flirt who would only annoy me. I was wrong about that.

In the two and half hours that we just sat and talked, I learned that most of the flirting that Axel did was all for fun. He meant what he said, but at the same time he was just kidding around. It's complicated to explain.

And as for annoying me, well, he did a little, but it wasn't as bad as I had originally thought.

It was hard to believe how much we had in common. We both went to Destiny High. He went to Twilight University, which is in the closest town on the mainland, and that was the college I wanted to go to. We both had old man Ansem as our history teacher and Mr. Merlin was our favorite science teacher. We both loved pie and Pepsi products. We both liked listening to Rock music.

So when he asked me to meet him there again the next day at ten-thirty, I eagerly agreed. Axel laughed and ruffled my hair before he quickly paid the bill and left before I even had a chance to argue.

I vowed to pay him back somehow. I figured then that I'd just have to do it the next day for lunch or do it in a way that he wouldn't realize I was paying him back.

* * *

In my excitement to meet up with Axel the next morning, I barely got any sleep that night and then I skipped breakfast that morning. I think Sora may have noticed how restless I was, but he didn't say anything about it. 

At ten I practically ran out the door to get my bike and ride into town, and I nearly ran into Kairi and Namine on their way in. Unfortunately, my bike had a flat and I had no time to repair it right then. So I quickly grabbed my skateboard and rode it into town. I did a few tricks sliding off rails and jumping benches and got a few people to clap and whistle.

When I got to the Moon Café, Axel was already there at the same table we sat at the day before. I picked up my skateboard and went inside and joined him. We ate a nice brunch and talked about different things. To my disappointment, when we finished eating, Axel paid the bill and got up to leave.

"Well, are you coming?" He asked, and I must have had a confused look on my face because he laughed and held out his hand. "You didn't think we were just going to sit around today, did you?" He asked teasingly.

I took his hand and he pulled me out of my seat and tugged me out of the café. I barely had time to grab my skateboard. He was surprisingly strong.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"One of my house mates is celebrating his birthday tomorrow." Axel told me. "I figure I need to get him a gift so that he doesn't whine and sulk and ignore me for days until I apologize and go and get a present anyway." He glanced over at me. "You don't mind, do you?"

I shook my head. "Can I help?" I asked.

"Sure." Axel said with a shrug. "But I think I already know what I'm going to get him. I figure I'll get a joke gift for him and his boyfriend. Zexion will undoubtedly kill me for it and Demyx will turn bright red, and then I'll give him his actual gift." He said with a grin. "One of the others is getting him a banjo, so I'm going to get him a few books on how to play."

I frowned. "Isn't the banjo one of the harder string instruments to learn?"

Axel snorted. "Compared to the sitar he's mastered playing, learning banjo will be a piece of cake for him." He let go of my hand and pointed to the music store that was just down the road. "We'll start there."

When we walked into the store I felt out of place right away. All around us were different instruments, amplifiers, and other expensive things. I felt as if I were to just touch one thing that everything would go crashing down and be ruined.

Thankfully, Axel knew his way around and we were able to get out of there quickly. It was a good thing, because the guy working there kept giving me these weird looks.

We hit the streets in search of some kind of joke shop that would have something like what Axel was looking for. It was too bad that closest Spencer's was on the mainland, otherwise we could have gone there. Although, we did have all day and the mainland was only a half hour away by boat or car. Usually taking the boat was faster though, since the bridge usually got jammed up by the cars because of the toll booths.

Somehow, Axel managed to find the one store in town that was similar to Spencer's. It was simply called 'Fate Land Oddities' and, like Spencer's, it had the funny, unique things up front and the more perverted stuff toward the back. I stayed up front and looked at t-shirts and jewelry while Axel went in the back.

I didn't even try to look at what Axel got when he came back up front. I didn't want to know. But maybe I should have looked, because then I could have yelled something like, "Axel! You can't get something like that for your friend!" Then maybe I could have avoided the lecherous grin from the guy at the register as I hurried after Axel as he left the store.

"Any place you want to stop at?" Axel asked me. "Skateboard store?" He suggested, eying the skateboard that I had tucked under my arm.

For some reason thought of the store that Naminé and Kairi had dragged me to the day that Sora broke his arm. "There is one place." I said to Axel. "It's down this way." I led him down to the store and just before we went inside he gave me a curious look. It was probably because of the little statues and stuffed toys in the window. I brushed off the look and led him back to the station that did all of the custom made stuff. This time there was someone there at the table managing the cash register.

I was drawn to the wooden pool balls that had the numbers embossed into the sides of them already. I ran my fingers over the one with the number thirteen carved in the ball and, without looking away, asked, "Hey Axel, what number is Demyx?"

"Number nine." Axel said. He must have caught sight of the price of stuff right around then because he cursed under his breath. "Roxas, this stuff is expensive."

I glanced at the price. 1000 munny wasn't that bad, was it? Maybe it was for other people. I never really thought of that. Sora and I grew up with our parents telling us that money wasn't an issue and it was always the same way for the rest of our friends. "It's not that bad." I dismissively told Axel. I picked up the wooden ball with the number nine on the side and ran my fingers over it to make sure it wasn't splintered. It felt smooth under my fingers so I took it over to the guy at the table. "How much to get it painted?" I asked.

"Depends." The guy told me. "If you just want the ball painted one color and the number another then it's 800 munny. If you want designs on it then it's 100 extra munny for each design."

A design idea popped into my head and I knew right away that Demyx would like it, never mind that I didn't even know him. I explained how I wanted it in as much detail as I could to the guy at the table and paid him the 1000 munny for the ball itself. I promised to pay for the paint job once I got back and could see it. He told me he could have it done in two hours.

"You shouldn't have spent that much." Axel grumbled. "You could have just gotten it plain or not at all. Do you even know Demyx?"

I shook my head. "No… but somehow I feel like I do. I mean, when you were telling me about him I got this feeling that I knew him once. And when you told me his number back at the store I thought of water and the words 'melodious nocturne' popped into my head."

Axel froze in place and I took a few steps before I realized that he wasn't beside me anymore. I stopped and turned around. I was about to ask him what was wrong when I caught sight of the look on Axel's face.

"H-how? How do you know that?" He sounded shaken.

I shrugged. "I don't. That's just the words that popped into my head." I said with a frown. "Why? Is that bad?"

Axel shook his head. "No, it's just that…. that's Demyx's nickname. We call him the Melodious Nocturne because he likes music and water so much." He gently took my arm and his voice took on a more curious tone. "What about me?"

I closed my eyes and let my mind drift a little before I focused on Axel and the number eight. Flames appeared in my minds eye. They flicked and danced in a flurry of red and golden heat. And then I knew. "Dancing flames." I murmured opening my eyes halfway. "Flurry of Dancing Flames."

I barely remember Axel hugging me and kissing my temple before I blacked out momentarily. Oddly, I wasn't at all afraid.

When I came to I was sitting on a park bench with Axel. It was a little discomforting to know that he carried me there and that I woke up with my head on his lap. (Actually, it was more like on his leg.) That didn't last for long as he helped me up and asked me if I was okay.

"I'm fine." I murmured. "I'm a little tired, but I'm okay. What happened?"

Axel shrugged. "You guessed my nickname and then you passed out." He peered closely at me. "Are you sure you're alright? You look pale. Maybe I should walk you home."

I nodded, unable to do much more than that, and then he helped me up and walked me home. We had to pause now and then so I could get my bearings, but it didn't take longer than an hour for me to get home.

"Damn, this is your house?" Axel asked, staring up at it in awe.

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Damn." Axel repeated, shaking his head. "Hey, if you're feeling better tomorrow you can drop by my place. It's Demyx's birthday." He told me. "I mentioned you to him and ever since then he's wanted to meet you." He tugged a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to me. "Here's the directions."

I took the paper and promised to try and make it. He grinned and then hurried off down the road while I went in my house.

* * *

The next day I got up early, ate breakfast, showered, and then I left the house to go down to the shop where Demyx's present was waiting to be picked up. I apologized to the guy at the table for not picking it up the day before. I paid him a little extra for holding onto it for me and then got it wrapped before I left to hunt down Axel's house. 

I remember feeling nervous. Very nervous. I couldn't place why, though. I mean, I was just going to keep Axel company and to meet that Demyx guy, right? Sure I somehow knew Demyx and Axel's nicknames, but was it really all that weird?

Even then I knew the answer to that was yes. It was weird and bizarre and just not normal and that's why I was so nervous. Well, that and I was about to meet all of Axel's house mates, which equaled to about eleven people plus anyone else that they invited. I had every reason to be nervous.

I rode my skateboard through town, carefully following the directions that Axel gave me. I ended up on the outskirts of town in a more run down area. I shuddered and kept a wary eye out for trouble. Who knew what sort of people lived around there.

I soon learned that Axel was one of those people.

The house that Axel lived in was an old, two-story building with fading gray paint over crumbling brick. Or maybe it was blue paint. I guess it doesn't really matter what color it was.

I hopped off of my skateboard and cautiously approached the door. I stared at the crumbling paint for a moment and my ears picked up on the beat of music coming from inside. I took a deep breath and then rang the doorbell. I only had to wait a minute or two before a girl with blonde hair answered the door. The moment I saw her I knew who she was and what her nickname was.

'Larxene, the Savage Nymph.' I thought as my vision blurred. Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as when I guessed Axel's nickname. I quickly recovered and gave Larxene an unsure smile.

"I'm Roxas, is--"

"Come in." Larxene said, opening the door wider. "Axel said you might be coming."

I hid my confusion and walked into the house, ignoring her odd taste in clothes. She

reminded me of a bumble bee in her goldenrod yellow and black clothes.

Walking into the loud house, I was hit by a thought- no, a distant memory of a quiet castle suspended high above a city of the night. A city of Nothing.

I saw beings in black cloaks. I saw strange creatures in white. There were other creatures that weren't white at all, but many different colors. I felt afraid of the colorful creatures. They were the enemy. But the white ones, they felt almost… friendly?

"Hey kid." Larxene tapped my shoulder and I swore I felt as if a jolt of electricity jumped from her fingers and down my entire arm. "Are you okay?"

I looked up at her, confused for a moment. Then I realized that I had been just standing there and that some of the others were staring at me. I spotted Axel's bright red hair on the other side of the room. I told Larxene that I was fine and then I hurried over to him, pausing along the way to drop off my present for Demyx at the table loaded down with gifts.

When I got over to him I found him talking to a guy with a mullet and a birthday hat on his head.

Axel spotted me right away and grinned before he pulled me over before I could even try to escape.

"Roxas, glad you could make it!" He said happily. "Rox, this is Demyx." He gestured to the guy that he had been talking to. "Dem, this is Roxas."

"So this is the sexy blonde angel you've been going on about?" Demyx asked. I could tell that he was kidding, but that didn't stop me from blushing and wondering if Axel really did say that.

"Aww, he's so cute!" Demyx said, ruffling my hair.

'Cute?' I nearly twitched in annoyance. I hated being called cute. I scowled and muttered, "I am not cute." That only served to make the two laugh.

"I'll introduce Roxas to everyone." Demyx said. "Will you go drag Zexion down from his room again for me? Pretty please?"

Axel scowled. "He's your boyfriend."

Demyx grabbed my arm and pouted. "But I wanna show Roxas around! You can have all to yourself later. Pleeeeeeease?"

Axel sighed and grumbled something under his breath before he stomped off in search of the elusive Zexion, leaving me at the mercy of a hyper Demyx. And so, for the next half hour I got dragged around the room by Demyx and introduced to everyone who was in the house. Somehow, I knew everyone's name and nickname before Demyx had a chance to tell me. Although, I didn't know that everyone called Xemnas man sex.

That was a little weird. And funny too.

"Hey Roxas, you need a nickname too." Demyx said enthusiastically. "You can be… um… the light… uh, the key of light?"

I raised an eyebrow. He had to have been kidding, right?

"No, the Key of Destiny." Axel said as he walked over to us with a gray-haired male.

'Zexion, the Cloaked Schemer.' My mind supplied.

"The 'Key of Destiny'?" Demyx repeated. "How is that any better than 'Key of Light'?"

Axel possessively pulled me toward him and I let out an accidental squeak of surprise. Thankfully, none of them noticed it.

"He's my friend, so I get to choose his nickname." He said. "Unless Rox doesn't like it or has a better one." He looked down at me. "Do you like it?"

I nodded. 'The Key of Destiny.' I repeated in my head. That sounded right. It was a little weird, but the name just kind of clicked.

"Present time!" Xigbar announced from the middle of the room. "Dudes and dudette, crowd around while our little water buddy unwraps his presents!"

Demyx beamed and bounded forward, somehow managing to remember to drag Zexion along with him before he could go hide again. Axel steered me over to the living room and we stood beside Larxene while Demyx dove in the pile of presents and gleefully began to unwrap them. He was like a little kid. He marveled over each gift and thanked whoever got it for him before he moved on to the next.

When he got to Axel's perverted gift he turned bright red and pushed it as far away from himself as he possibly could. Zexion glared at Axel in a way that could have only meant death, but Axel just grinned.

And then he got to my gift. He gave me a slightly confused look and then began to open it. First went off the wrapping paper and then the lid of the box I had it put in. Demyx tipped the box upside down and let the ball fall into his hands. He looked at in surprise for a minute, taking in the painted water and the music notes that blended in with it and then he gave me his most blinding smile. I reminded me of Sora.

The next thing I knew, Demyx was across the room and was hugging me. I never did understand what the big deal about it was.

* * *

End Chapter

* * *

Hurry for long chapters that bring up my word count nearly 5000 words! 

I'll be updating even faster now. It'll probably be one chapter every day. Maybe two a day. Look for a chapter tomorrow!


	6. 6 Naminé: Secrets

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to Square Enix and Disney.

* * *

Angel in Disguise

_6. Naminé: Secrets_

I didn't even notice when Roxas first started acting strangely. In fact, it was actually Sora who pointed it out, which was weird because Sora isn't really the most observant person in the world. He can be really oblivious to many things. Roxas is the same way some times.

Anyway, Sora noticed first and asked me and Kairi to spy on Roxas so that he could know where he had been going. He'd been a little restless ever since he broke his leg, not that I could blame him. I would have been restless too.

I hated all of the secrets. Roxas was hiding where he was going from Sora. Sora was hiding the fact that he was dating Riku. Kairi had only told me about her pen pal, Pence. Kairi was the only one who knew that I had been already accepted at Sunset University, the big art college on the main land. Even Axel was hiding something!

The sheer amount of secrets was overwhelming and somehow I managed to find myself smack dab in the middle of it all. I hated it. Despised it, actually.

We had all known each other since we were little kids! There was no reason for us to be hiding things from each other! And it wasn't like the secrets were embarrassing or really bad or anything. It was the exact opposite; all of the secrets were really good things. I just didn't understand it.

So when Sora asked me and Kairi to find out where Roxas was going, I jumped at the chance. If it meant helping to erase one of the secrets, then I was all for it. So the very day that Sora asked me and Kairi, I followed Roxas around while Kairi went to work. She had a small job at a bookstore at that time so that she would always have extra money.

I was both surprised and pleased when I found out that it was Axel who Sora was meeting. I was glad the Roxas was giving him a chance. It was what I wanted.

A part of me was a little jealous though, I think. The two of them were talking and laughing as if they had been friends all of their lives. Axel getting to hold Roxas's hand weakened my breaking point and then seeing Axel hug Roxas just… I couldn't take it. I had to leave.

Looking back, I now feel like I was being so stupid. It wasn't like we had ever dated or anything. I had always just seen him as my best friend. It wasn't like Kairi's situation, where she had a crush on both Sora and Riku at one time. She probably still did and that was why she was kind of avoiding the two of them.

Roxas had noticed that something wasn't right between the three of them. He's not stupid. I kept telling them and Kairi kept telling them to tell Roxas, but they didn't listen. I suppose that if I were in their shoes then I'd be afraid too. I mean, what if their dating does cause a rift in their families? We knew Roxas was okay with Squall and Cloud being together, but what of his own twin?

There are days when the secrets became too much and I just wanted to scream as loudly as I could. I didn't, of course.

I often wondered how I got to be right in the middle of the secrets. And then I realized that in our circle of friends, Riku was the artsy jock, Roxas was the all-around good guy, Sora was the class clown, Kairi was the art-oriented socialite, Selphie was the gossip queen, Tidus was the Blitzball nut, and Wakka was the big brother.

And me? Somehow I had become the 'rock'; the stabilizing force who was there to help anyone. I kept a cheerful mask up so that the others wouldn't worry about me. They had enough to worry and think about without me adding to their problems.

But then… that was where Roxas came in. Somehow, he always understood. I suppose that in some ways I was his rock and he was mine. It went both ways with us.

Everything was starting to fall apart… and I felt like there was nothing that I could do to stop it.

* * *

I found myself at the park just as the sun began to set on the day that I saw Axel and Roxas hanging out. I held my pencil limply in my hand and let my sketchpad rest on the stone wall. There were so many things around me that I could sketch, but at that moment not one thing spoke to me. Not the trees, the bushes, the flowers… not even the sunset itself. I felt so… lost? What I felt was not something that could be described with words. 

"Naminé?"

I turned my head. I recognized that voice. "Hello, Marluxia." I said, managing to give him a small smile.

He leaned up against the wall beside me and gave me a curious look. I couldn't help but notice the grocery bags that were dangling from his arms and I figured that Larxene had sent him out shopping again. If anything of what Demyx told me was true about the people in that house, then I wouldn't really trust anyone else with the shopping either.

"You seem distracted." He remarked, tapping my sketchpad. "Problems in paradise, ghostling?"

I shrugged. "Yes and no." I murmured, not wanting him to get involved in the mess. "Nothing we can't work out."

Marluxia raised an eyebrow but didn't press for more information just then. "Demyx wants to know if you're coming over to celebrate his birthday with us. It's tomorrow."

"I'm sorry, Marluxia." I apologized, wishing I could go. "I have some work I need to do. Could you tell Demyx I promise to stop by in a few days to give him his presents?"

Marluxia nodded and shifted the bags on his arms. "I will." He promised. "Now, are you going to tell me what's bothering you so much or am I going to have to tickle it out of you?"

I couldn't help but smile. That was his favorite way to get information out of me. He knew all of my ticklish spots. "Okay, I'll tell you." I said, my smile fading away. "It's about Roxas…"

"Ah," Marluxia said knowingly. "The boyfriend."

I blushed. "He is not!" I protested. "You know very well that he isn't, so cut it out. Besides, with all the time he's been spending with Axel and with how friendly he is with him, it's likely that he prefers guys." I said.

"You sound jealous." Marluxia said teasingly, tapping me on the nose. "A guy _can _have guy friends and not be gay, you know. Just like a guy can have pink hair and not be gay."

I looked away.

I'll admit that I can be really stubborn when I want to be. I just wish that that wasn't one of those times. Marluxia must have thought I was being such a little girl right then.

"Na'né." He used my camp nickname against me. His voice was so gentle and coaxing that I couldn't help but look up at him. "You love him, don't you?" He asked.

I jerkily pulled away from him. "I do not!" I protested vehemently. "I don't- I can't-" My voice grew weak and less sure. "No!" I screamed. "I can't love him! I can't!"

I felt Marluxia's arms wrap around me and the bags clunked against my sides. I sniffed and buried my face in his shirt. Like always, he smelt of roses and the earth.

I don't know how long we stood there, but I know he stayed with me until I was thinking rationally again. I was thankful for that.

Now, before you get any strange ideas, I was not in love with Marluxia. I loved him, sure, but it was in a sister-brother type of way. He was like a big brother to me. He was definitely as protective as one, which made it weird that approved of Roxas without even knowing him.

I wasn't even in love with Roxas! He was my best friend! We grew up together. I couldn't be in love with him.

Could I?

* * *

After my talk with Marluxia, I hurried back to Sora and Roxas's house to tell Sora where Roxas had been going. 

"He's been hanging out with Axel?" Sora asked, surprised by the news. "That's great! I was hoping they would get along!" He said giddily. "Hey Ro--"

I quickly covered his mouth with his hand. I wasn't about to let him call Roxas in the room to talk to him. I didn't want Roxas to know that I had spent most of my day following him and Axel around town. "Don't call him in here!" I hissed, taking my hand off his mouth so he could talk.

Sora looked at me in confusion. "Why not?"

"Just don't, please." I said pleadingly. "I don't want him to know that I've been spying on him!"

"Oh." Sora said. "Yeah, okay. I won't tell him I know."

I gave him a hug. "Thanks, Sora."

After that I spent the next ten minutes trying to convince Sora to tell Roxas about him and Riku and then we could tell him that we knew he was hanging out with Roxas. Sora ended up kicking me out of his room while telling me that he wasn't ready for Roxas to know yet.

It was worth a shot, right? I hoped that if we kept trying to convince him and Riku to tell Roxas that eventually they would give in just to get us to stop asking. So far it wasn't working all that well, but I was still hopeful.

* * *

End Chapter

* * *

You know, I got done writing chapters 10 and 11 on Friday, and I can't help but wonder how many of you are going to want to murder me over what happens in chapter 11.


	7. 7 Roxas: Melancholy

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to Square Enix and Disney.

* * *

Angel in Disguise

_7. Roxas: Melancholy_

I called Axel the next day, but he wasn't there. Demyx sounded really upset when he answered the phone, but while I wondered why he was upset, I didn't ask him. I didn't think he'd want to talk to me about it. After all, he didn't know me all that well.

I asked Demyx to tell Axel that I called and for him to call me back once he gets home. Demyx promised to pass along the message and then he hung up the phone.

I spend the rest of the day cleaning my room and working on my spring break project while waiting for Axel to call me back. He didn't.

The next three days I spent mostly pacing restlessly around the house wondering why Axel hadn't called me back. Sora somehow managed to convince me to play video games with him for a few hours each day, but once Riku came over I would leave and go to my room.

And then Naminé came over and thing started to get a little better.

We were laying on my bed looking over old photo albums. We did that at least once every year and then we'd add new pictures to it. So we had new pictures spread out all over the bed and we were reorganizing them so we could put them in the photo album in order.

"So Roxas, how have you been?" Naminé asked me. "I haven't seen you for a few days."

I shrugged and tossed one of Sora's pictures to the side. It had a print of Sora's thumb right in the middle of it, which made it useless. "I'm fine. I've just been busy with some things."

Naminé made a humming noise and then held up a picture of us at the zoo. "Remember this?" She asked.

I grinned and took the photo from her so I could get a better look. "Yeah, that was just a few months ago. Right after Kairi took that picture Sora decided he just had to go feed the camels."

Naminé giggled. "And then Riku had to go rescue him when the camel decided that Sora's hair was food. I think we have a picture of that somewhere in here…" She flipped through the pile of photos and triumphantly pulled out a picture. "Here it is!" She gleefully handed it to me and I laughed before I slid it under the photo of all of us.

"One of these days we need to make up a 'most embarrassing photo's' album." I remarked.

"Most of the pictures would be of Sora and Tidus." Naminé pointed out. "They're usually the ones who we catch on camera doing something silly." She flipped through the rest of the pictures from our trip to the zoo, setting some aside to put in the photo album. "You know, one of these days we need to get a video camera. Then we won't miss as much. We should still use the regular camera though." She waved a photo of Riku getting chased by goats and I snorted and told her to put it in the pile.

"That would be a good idea." I said. "It'd have to be a small one and we'd have to make sure that everyone knows how to use it. That way there won't always be one person filming and being left out."

Naminé nodded. "Yeah. Although maybe it would be best to not let Sora or Tidus use the camera. Who knows what they might do to it. It would be an accident, of course, but somehow they always manage to break the expensive things that we let them handle."

That was too true. I remember the time Riku got an expensive new radio and speakers for his Loremo LS and he asked Sora to hold the box he was keeping them in. Sora somehow managed to drop the box and break the radio and one of the speakers. Riku didn't speak to him for weeks afterwards. It took Sora apologizing what seemed like fifty times and paying for a new radio and speaker before Riku would talk to him again.

I miss that blissful month without Riku coming over. Although, Sora didn't shut up about how sorry he was and how much he missed Riku, so maybe it's better that Riku did forgive him and started talking to him again.

Inexplicably, my mind drifted over to Axel and I glanced over at my phone, hoping that he would call me.

"Roxas, are you okay?" Naminé asked me. "You got quiet all of a sudden."

I looked over at her and smiled. "I'm okay, Naminé." I told her. "I was just thinking about something."

Naminé sighed and set down the photo's she was holding. "Roxas, I know you've been hanging out with Axel lately."

I looked at her in surprise. How did she know that? She couldn't have just guessed that. "How do you know that?" I asked her.

Naminé looked away from me with a guilty look on her face. "I… I followed you." She admitted. "Sora wanted to know where you were going and he asked Kairi and me to find out." She looked back over at me. "I'm sorry, Roxas. I should have just asked you."

I relaxed. That wasn't too bad. It wasn't that surprising that Sora asked them to find out where I had been going. He had been getting really bored lately . I made a mental note to set aside a whole day to hang out with Sora.

"It's okay, Naminé." I said.

She relaxed. "Really?" She asked. "You're not mad?"

I shook my head. "Not at all. I'm glad that you guys worried about me. That just shows that you care. But next time, just ask me instead of following me around town. It'll save you some trouble."

Naminé laughed, obviously relieved. "Okay. I will." She leaned forward and took my hand. "Lets go hang out today. Just me and you. We haven't done that for a long time."

I blushed. Just the two of us? Me and Naminé? She was right though, we hadn't hung out together, just the two of us, for nearly a year. We had always had a lot of fun together and got into trouble a few times, so I didn't see the harm in hanging out like we used to.

"Okay. What do you have in mind?" I asked.

"Well, I was thinking we could go into town and maybe… stir up a little trouble." She said, half teasingly. "And I also need to get a birthday present for my friend Marluxia. His birthday is coming up soon."

"Marluxia?" I asked, surprised. I didn't know that she knew him. "The same Marluxia that lives with Axel and hangs out with Larxene all the time?"

Naminé nodded. "The one and only. How many guys do you know that are named 'Marluxia'. It's not exactly a common name."

I didn't answer that. I had no idea that he had a birthday coming up. I decided I had to get him a present too. A wooden pool ball painted green with pink roses came to mind. It would have the number eleven on it too.

Before I knew it, Naminé and I were running down the streets of downtown Destiny Island and were being chased by some little old lady's tiny, yapping dog. And idea popped into my head and I grabbed Naminé's hand and veered off into a small alleyway and kept running until I went around a corner. I pulled Naminé against me and we watched as the dog continued running down the alleyway. A few minutes later the pissed off little old lady went running after the little dog, waving her cane and shouting obstinacies.

Naminé and I waited before she was gone before we collapsed against the wall in laughter. It took us a while to calm down because every time we'd look at each other we'd just start laughing again.

When we had calmed down and stopped laughing, Naminé laid her head on my shoulder and breathlessly asked, "How do we get in these situations whenever we go out?"

I shrugged and pulled away from her, feeling somewhat uncomfortable with how close she was. "No idea. My good looks and charm?"

Naminé gave an unladylike snort and brushed her bangs from her face. "Yeah, Rox. That's exactly why the dog got pissed off enough to chase us." She said sarcastically.

"Yup. Exactly." I agreed, pushing away from the wall. "Lets go get the present I had made for Marluxia and then go back to my place and check on Sora. Who knows what trouble he's gotten into in his boredom."

Naminé laughed and agreed and then we set off to retrieve the wooden pool ball and then go back to my house and check on Sora. We got back just in time to see Sora and Riku hop out of my dad's car. I can't remember seeing Sora happier than when he proudly showed off his much lighter cast that he could walk around much easier with.

Ignoring the fact that it was all Riku's idea to celebrate, we celebrated Sora getting the lighter cast with ice cream and music. We called up the rest of the group and invited them over. Wakka ended up bringing his girlfriend, Lulu, and she brought her own friends along with her, which proved to make the night very interesting as Tidus first hovered in the background and stared at Yuna, who he has had a crush on for ages. When he finally got the nerve to go over to her, he spilled his drink all down his shirt and she laughed at him.

I think the funniest part of the night was when Paine, who really, really scares me, got pissed off at Baralai, who has to be the calmest person in either circle of friends, and dumped her soda on his head. Rikku, who was Yuna's cousin and Paine's best friend, and Gippal, Baralai's best friend, just stood back and laughed with everyone else.

I kind of felt bad for Baralai, although I'm not sure what he did to make Paine do that. He might have deserved it, but somehow I doubt it.

The blending of our two groups had happened before then, but it didn't work out quite as well as it did this time. Maybe it was the combination of ice cream and soda or the root beer floats that my dad made for all of us, but we ended up all having a great time without fighting badly. I mean, other than Rikku slapping Gippal a lot and Paine dumping her soda on Baralai's head, and Tidus getting elbowed in the nose, and Kairi getting pissed and beating Riku in the head because he nailed her in the back with a Blitzball, it was pretty peaceful.

Well, that was pretty damn peaceful for us, although for "normal" people it could have been considered kind of violent.

We did have fun that night and I completely forgot all about the fact that Axel still hadn't called me. I forgot all about finishing up my spring break project for school. I forgot that Kairi had been acting strangely around Riku and Sora. I even forgot that Sora's leg was still broken, although you wouldn't be able to tell with the way he was hobbling around the room that night.

It was nice to just sit back and relax and laugh with my friends. I didn't have to worry about anything at all and got to eat all of the ice cream I wanted. (Although I regretted that the next morning when I woke up with a stomachache.)

That night I collapsed onto my bed with a big smile on my face and I fell into what I had hoped would be a nice peaceful sleep, although I wouldn't have been too surprised if I had dreamed about being chased around by food.

My dreams did start off something like that. I think Tidus got eaten by a giant soda or a pizza or something. But then they changed into something that felt much more real. They weren't even dreams anymore. They weren't nightmares either.

It was more like… memories. Memories from a time long ago. Parts of them were fuzzy, but I remember seeing myself and Axel sitting atop a clock on the mainland eating sea-salt ice cream. We were dressed in black cloaks. Axel seemed sad about something and I was resigned about something. I couldn't tell what we were talking about.

The imaged changed to me fighting with someone who could have only been Riku. Strangely, he was wearing a black cloak like I was but he also had on a blind fold. From there the image changed to Naminé and I sitting in a white room with childish drawings plastered all over the walls. Then it went to me running through the streets of a dark city fighting off black ant-like creatures with curly antennas. Above the city a heart-shaped moon glowed. Then I was sitting in different white room that had thirteen chairs suspended above the ground in order of rank. Mine was at the bottom. In all of the other chairs was everyone who Axel lived with at the old, two-story house. They too were wearing the black cloaks.

From there, my dream grew too hazy for even me to remember.

* * *

End Chapter

* * *

Oddly, this chapter started out as a difficult one to write, but then I got to the part where Namine dragged Roxas to go shopping and things started flowing much more easily. I think my favorite sentence of all time for this entire fanfic is the line "I mean, other than Rikku slapping Gippal... it was pretty peaceful." That whole line, I love it. That one will keep me laughing for the rest of the night. 


	8. 8 Riku: Confusion

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. it belongs to Square Enix and Disney.

* * *

Angel in Disguise

_8. Riku: Confusion_

Kairi thought that the reason that Sora and I hadn't told Roxas about us was because I was afraid of Roxas. Me? Afraid of Roxas? Not a chance. Now Squall on the other hand, he's the one I was afraid of. He's super protective of both Sora and Roxas and his boyfriend, Cloud, is just as protective of them.

I dreaded the day that we would tell Squall about us. I just knew that I would get pulled aside and threatened by both Squall and Cloud and that if I were to ever hurt Sora in any way, I would be as good as dead. Actually, they'd probably make it so that I would wish I was dead.

For me, I didn't want to tell Roxas was because I didn't know how to. It's not like there's a 'how to' book that tells you how to tell your boyfriend's twin brother that his twin is gay and that you're dating him. And with Roxas, I knew I was likely to get punched in the face if I even so much as suggested such a thing.

Right then I was glad that Roxas had left the house to go hang out with Axel. I didn't particularly like the redhead, but so long as his getting Roxas out of the house gave me uninterrupted alone time with Sora, I was happy.

Telling Roxas wasn't my only problem. I also had to deal with my three older brothers, Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz. If they were to find out about me and Sora, it would be all over Destiny Island in only one hour. But I also knew I had to tell them before they found out on their own, which would have been much worse.

And then there was Kairi. She had been spending less and less time with Sora and I. At the time I just assumed that she didn't want to be a third wheel and wanted to give us alone time. We hadn't really made an effort to invite us, so maybe that's what she needed. But then again, it never stopped her from joining us before. I decided to talk to Sora about it when I went over there that day.

But first, I had to avoid my brothers.

I snuck out my bedroom door and peered up and down the hallway. Down the hall, I saw that each of them had their bedroom doors closed. That didn't mean anything, though. They shut their doors whether they were in the room or not.

For a moment I debated going back in my room to climb out the window so I wouldn't risk running into them. But ever since dad cut down the tree to keep me from sneaking out, I haven't been able to do that. So instead of climbing out the window and killing myself, I shut my door as quietly as I possibly could.

I should not have done that.

Somehow, someway, they heard the sound of me quietly shutting my bedroom door. They came barreling out of their rooms full speed, and tackled me to the ground. I saw stars for a moment and then they cleared and I glared at one of them.

"Where're you going, Riku?" Kadaj asked. "You should know better than to sneak off without telling us."

I hate them so fucking much. "Get off of me." I muttered, trying to push them off.

"Tell us where you're going." Yazoo demanded.

"It's none of your business where I go!" I snapped at them. "Now get the hell off!"

Loz sniffed and his eyes filled with tears, which made me internally groan. Loz may have been the oldest, but he acted like a five-year-old girl sometimes. Sure enough, he started crying a few seconds later and a disgruntled Yazoo and Kadaj got off of me, making sure to elbow me in the stomach first, and comforted Loz.

That was when I made a break for the front door. Before they realized what had happened, I was gone. I was out of the house and free from my crazy older brothers, even if it was just for a little while. In happiness, I whistled a tune from the upcoming school musical the entire way to Sora's house.

I let myself in the front door like I always did, greeted the maid who was cleaning the foyer, and then I crept up the stairs to Sora's room. Roxas passed me on his way down the stairs, but he was still in his early morning daze and didn't notice me.

I got to Sora's bedroom door and had to fight back the urge to hum the Mission Impossible theme song and do a dodge roll into his room as I quietly opened the door and peered in. I found him sleeping away on his bed, clutching a pillow to his chest. His chocolate brown hair was even messier than usual and it spiked at odd angles. I bit back a laugh as I stepped into the room and quietly shut the door. Thankfully, Sora didn't have super hearing like my brothers, so did he didn't so much as stir.

I crept over to the bed and watched him sleep for a few minutes. He looked so peaceful when he was asleep. Then I jumped on him.

He awoke with a surprised yell and nearly slammed his head into mine. Thankfully, I had remembered to pin down his arms so that that wouldn't happen again. When he saw that it was me, his lips curved into the smile that I love so much.

"Riku!" He exclaimed. He took advantage of my loose grip on his arms and broke loose and glomped me, making both of us fall off the bed. My head cracked into his bedside table and my vision went black before I saw stars for the second time that morning.

"Riku! I'm so sorry!"

I was dimly aware of Sora pulling me away from the table and pulling back my hair to check the damage. He breathed a sigh of relief and told me I wasn't bleeding. I didn't have the heart to tell him that just because I wasn't bleeding didn't mean I couldn't have gotten a concussion.

He kissed the spot where I hit my head and then asked, "Better?"

I didn't even try to shake my head, knowing it'd only make me really dizzy or hurt worse at that moment. "Not really." I lifted my hand and ran my fingers through his tangled hair. "How is it that you always manage to get me hurt?" I asked him teasingly.

"Maybe you're the clumsy one and not me." Sora teased back.

"Says the one who _tripped _over a _Blitzball_."

Sora stuck out his tongue at me and I had to resist the temptation to grab his tongue and yell, "Got your tongue!" Instead of doing that, I smirked and said, "Put that away before I'm tempted to put it to good use."

Part of me was disappointed when his tongue disappeared into his mouth and he grinned at me, as if knowing what I was thinking.

"I think you were already tempted, otherwise you wouldn't have said that." He said, deviously moving closer until I was ready to bed for him to kiss me. Not that I would have let him know that.

I didn't have to beg or ask him to kiss me. He did that on his own; leaning down to kiss me with those soft lips, those fingers running through my hair and across my scalp.

He pulled away all too soon and gave me a devilish grin. He knew exactly what he was doing. He got up from the floor and moved away to begin his usual morning routine, but I would have none of that. I got up, being careful of my head which, miraculously, didn't throb as soon as I began moving around, and I walked up behind Sora and picked him up before I deposited him on his bed. Then, for the second time that morning, I jumped on top of him.

I didn't stop to think that Roxas was just downstairs and that he could walk in on us at any time. All I cared about right then was me and Sora.

* * *

Later that day while Roxas was out doing something or other with Naminé, Sora and I sat on his back patio and talked. We talked about the best way to tell our families about us and then I brought up how Kairi had been avoiding us. 

"Avoiding us?" Sora repeated, puzzled. "What do you mean? She was just over the other night, remember?"

"But so was everyone else." I pointed out. "The three of us used to hang out all the time. Lately, Kairi leaves or brings someone else along when it's going to be just the three of us. Haven't you noticed that?"

Sora shook his head. "No. Not really. I mean, she has been working more at the bookstore lately and then there's her school project and the comic that she and Naminé are working on."

I nearly sighed in frustration. Sora could be too oblivious at times. "Sora, you know as well as I that Kairi finished her project in the first few days of vacation. And she doesn't work that often at the book store."

"She could still be working on the comic with Naminé." Sora defensively said.

"I was thinking," I said slowly, seeing that trying to convince him that Kairi had been avoiding us wasn't going to work. "That we could invite Kairi over today and just hang out like we used to. We can make snacks and pull out board games or a movie and just goof off for the rest of the day."

Sora brightened and sat up straighter. "Really? That sounds great! I'll go call Kairi!"

Before I could say anything, he was gone. It was amazing how fast he could get around even with a broken leg. I got up and walked inside where I found that Sora was already on the phone with Kairi and was trying to coax her into coming over. I gave him a smile and walked to the kitchen to start fixing snacks and slushies. If there was any one thing that could cheer Kairi up, it was slushies.

I pulled open the freezer and hunted for a frozen juice can within its depths. I knew there had to be at least one in there since Sora's mom liked to have a martini with dinner each night and she preferred using the cans over anything else. I grinned when I found a grape one in there (grape was Kairi's favorite) and I pulled it out and set it on the counter. Then I hunted down the ever-elusive blender and dug out a bowl to put ice in.

Before I could even plug in the blender, Sora walked into the room with a morose expression on his face. I stepped away from the counter. "What's wrong?" I asked, worried. Even if Kairi hadn't been able to come over, Sora wouldn't have normally been that upset. Actually, he looked more angry than upset.

"I asked Kairi to come over." Sora tonelessly said. "At first she agreed. She sounded happier than she has in days."

So he had noticed that Kairi was upset.

"At first?" I asked, almost dreading what was coming next. Have you ever gotten that tightening feeling in your gut and knew that something bad was going to happen? That's what I was feeling right then.

Sora crossed his arms over his chest and glared at me. "Yes, Riku, at first." He practically snapped at me. "Then she asked if it was just going to be the two of us and I told her that you were here too." He looked away from me as his eyes began to fill with tears, and that hurt even worse than him glaring at me. "She got quiet and then made up some excuse about forgetting that she had to do something, so she can't come over."

"Sora…" I softly murmured, walking over to him. I fully intended to comfort him. Unfortunately, he didn't let that happen.

"_Don't touch me!" _Sore yelled.

I took a step back, startled.

And just my luck, Roxas and Naminé walked through the glass kitchen door just in time to hear Sora yell those words. Roxas immediately glared at me and handed his shopping bags to Naminé before he walked over to me. I had never seen him look so angry before.

"Get out." Roxas said coldly. "I don't want to hear whatever excuse you undoubtedly have. Get. Out. Now."

Normally, I wouldn't have been at all afraid of Roxas when he got angry. Normally I would have laughed and teased him. But I knew better than to mess with Roxas right then. At that moment, he reminded me so much of Squall that I was almost shaking.

I glanced back at Sora, wishing that he would understand that I hadn't done anything to Kairi. And then I left, feeling tired and heavy. I considered going straight home, but I knew that there was something else I had to do first.

I had to talk to Kairi.

* * *

Kairi lived just two miles away from Sora's house in an even ritzier neighborhood than the rest of us, except for Naminé who lived just next door to her. I jogged up the front steps to Kairi's house and rang the doorbell. I stood there and patiently waited for someone to answer the door, so I could try and figure out how to fix the mess. 

I knew it wasn't Kairi's fault. I could never have blamed her for it all. It was just a big misunderstanding on Sora's part. I also knew that the only way to get things cleared up was to talk to Kairi.

The butler answered the door and, recognizing me, let me in before he hurried off to find Kairi. I waited in the foyer, looking around at the colorful artwork on the walls. Being at her house was a lot like being in an art museum.

I didn't have to wait for long before Kairi came down the stairs in her pink and black jogging outfit and her hair pulled up into a ponytail. She looked surprised to see me.

"Riku, what are you doing here?" She asked, hurrying over to me. "I thought you were hanging out with Sora today!"

"I was, until he called you to ask if you wanted to join us." I told her. "Somehow he got the feeling that I had done something to you."

Kairi frowned. "But that doesn't make any sense. You haven't done a thing to me. What gave him that idea?"

"Probably you agreeing to come over at first and then learning that I was there and changing your mind." I told her. "It almost sounds like you're trying to avoid me."

Kairi looked away from me. "Not you." She quietly said. "You and Sora. When you're together." She looked up at me, distraught. "I'm happy for you guys! I really am! It's just…" She wrapped her arms around herself and looked away from me again. My heart ached seeing how helpless she looked. "I guess I'm a little jealous. I mean, I've always had a crush on you and Sora. So the two of you together and spending even more time together, it's overwhelming."

I had no idea. I hadn't even thought to worry about how Kairi felt about Sora and I dating. We had been too busy worrying about our families and Tidus and Wakka's reactions. For me it felt like Kairi had been supportive since the very beginning. She and Naminé were the first people we told.

"Kairi, I'm so sorry." I said softly. "Sora and I, we didn't even think about how you felt. We should have."

Kairi wiped away a tear and gave me a sad smile.

'She's crying.' I realized with a start. I hadn't seen Kairi cry in years. Sometimes it seemed like she was as strong as me, Sora, and the rest of the guys. In some ways she was really stronger than any of us.

"I'm going on a trip to Twilight Town." Kairi told me. "I just… I need to get away to think. Naminé is coming with me to keep me company. I think we're going to be staying with a friend of my pen pal."

"Pen pal?" I asked. I had no idea that she even had a pen pal.

Kairi nodded. "His name is Pence. Spring break has just started over in Twilight Town and he invited me over for a few days so I accepted." She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and sighed. "I'll… I'll explain everything to Sora if you'd like." She offered. "I didn't mean to make you guys fight."

"It's fine. I'll just wait for Roxas to cool down before I try talking to Sora." I told her. I knew I had to do something to show her that I wasn't angry with her, so I walked over to her and hugged her. "We'll get things sorted out, Kai. And maybe," I pulled away from her and gave her a reassuring smile. "Maybe the next time you hang out with me and Sora, we'll tone down the flirting and public displays of affection."

Kairi giggled and I was relieved to see a smile spreading across her face.

"So, tell me about this pen pal of yours." I said, pulling her over to the couch so we could sit and talk comfortably. "What's his name and how did you meet him?"

Kairi laughed and began to tell me anything she could think of. His name was Pence and he lived in Twilight Town and went to the art high school in Sunset. It turned out that Sunset High and Destiny Islands High writing classed did some kind of letter exchange. Even after the program ended the two of them continued to write to each other.

We continued to sit there and talk until Kairi's mom came home. I hadn't even noticed how late it was. I tried to leave, but Kairi and her mom both insisted that I stay for dinner. So I did.

They tried to keep me after dinner too, but I had to decline. My brothers were going to throw a fit as it was. It was there turn to cook that night, as part of their punishment for staying out late and getting drunk, and they were going to be pissed that I missed it.

They were the very reason I was counting down the days until I'd graduate and get out of the house. That day, for me, wasn't too far away. The only downside to that was that I'd be graduating that year with Wakka, but Sora, Kairi, and the others still had one more year.

But right then, my upcoming graduation was the least of my problems.

* * *

End Chapter

* * *

Next to Roxas, Riku is another character who I find it easy to write as. Hurray for long chapters! (glomps Riku) 


	9. 9 Roxas and Sora: Split

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to Square Enix and Disney.

* * *

Angel in Disguise

_9. Roxas and Sora: Split_

It's odd. I barely knew Axel and yet with him not calling me I felt strangely lonely. Then again, I did have Sora to hang out with, even if he had not been acting himself. We had spent a day or two hanging out, just the two of us. I hadn't seen or heard anything about Riku and when I tried to call Kairi or Naminé I couldn't reach either of them.

I asked Sora what was going on, figuring that he would know and would tell me. He did just the opposite by clamming up and not telling me anything. I knew that he and Riku were fighting over something, and it must have been really serious with the way Sora was acting. He hadn't even brought up Riku's name! He was also unusually quiet and unhappy, which got me worried enough to call Squall. Surprisingly, I was able to get a hold of him.

I explained to him how Sora was acting and how he had a fight with Riku. I told him about Axel and how he still hadn't called me back, five days after I first tried to get a hold of him. I told him how Naminé and Kairi had disappeared without telling anyone where they were going or even that they were leaving.

Instead of giving me advice or anything like that, he told me to get Sora and drive over to his and Cloud's duplex so we could talk face to face. I did so without question.

A half hour later I pulled into the driveway in my blue Mustang and parked beside Squall and Cloud's black hybrid van that we 'lovingly' called the "soccer mom mobile". I turned off the car as Sora opened the door and got out.

Aerith ran out of her and Zack's side of the duplex and happily waved. Zack leaned against the doorway, shirtless, and tried to coax her back into the house. He gave us a short salute before he finally just walked out and scooped Aerith into his arms and carried her back inside.

I smiled at their antics, but Sora just walked into the house, not even stopping to wave or say anything to Zack and Aerith. I hurried after him, even more worried than ever.

Inside we were greeted by the sight of Cloud in a pale blue apron. When he caught sight of us he blushed and began to untie it.

"Sora, Squall's in the living room. He wants to talk to you." Cloud said as he pulled the apron over his head. "Roxas, stay here. I want to talk to you."

Sora shot me a puzzled look and then left the kitchen to go to the living room, leaving me alone with Cloud.

"Have a seat." Cloud said, gesturing to the small kitchen table. "I was just making tea. You want some?"

"Sure." I said. I wondered why he needed to wear an apron if he was only making tea, but I didn't say anything.

He brought two cups over to the table and set one down in front of me. I picked mine up and tentatively took a sip to make sure it was sweet enough. Squall didn't like things sweet but Sora loved things too sweet. I was right in the middle, but I wasn't sure if Cloud remembered that.

Thankfully, he did.

"Squall wants me to find out what's going on with you and your friends." Cloud remarked as he sat down across from me. "He said something about a phone call from you, too."

"It's nothing, really." I said. "Just regular teenage stuff."

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "I doubt it's just 'regular teenage stuff' if Squall wanted you two to come over here and talk to us. Tell me about this Axel guy you met."

"Axel?" I asked. I could feel my cheeks turning red. "He's just a friend. I met him at the hospital when Sora broke his leg. I don't even know why he was in there. Nobody has told me. But then again, I haven't really asked." I sighed. "We started hanging out a few days later and we got along just fine. And then… he hasn't called me back yet. I called him five days ago, but he wasn't there. His friend Demyx promised he'd tell Axel that I called. He said he'd get Axel to call me back."

"Maybe his friend forgot." Cloud suggested.

I shook my head. "Not Demyx. He can be a little scatterbrained sometimes, but he doesn't forget things like that."

Cloud frowned. "I'm sure there's a logical explanation. Did you ever give him your number?"

"Of course I--" I stopped suddenly, realizing that I hadn't given Axel my number. I hadn't even thought about it. "But he has caller I.D." I said, my mind racing. I was searching for an excuse and I knew it.

"It could have gotten erased." Cloud said. "Why don't you call him from here?"

"I don't have his number with me. I'll call him when I get home." I said before I began drinking my tea.

"So, what's wrong with Sora?" Cloud asked after a few minutes of silence.

I looked up at him, wondering how he knew that something was wrong with Sora. He had only seen him for a few seconds.

"He didn't run over and hug me like he normally does." Cloud said. "Did something happen?"

I shrugged, not entirely sure about what was wrong with Sora. I was determined to find some way to blame Riku for it though. "I know that he and Riku had a fight and that Kairi and Naminé disappeared after it." I told him. "I don't know what the fight was about or anything. And the only reason I know they had a fight was because I got home just in time to hear Sora yell at Riku to not touch him. I kicked Riku out of the house and haven't heard anything from him since."

Cloud frowned. I could tell he was trying to figure out what was going on from what I told him. I hoped he could figure it out because then he could tell me what was wrong.

He got up suddenly and started for the living room. "I'll be right back." He told me. "I need to ask Squall something."

I stayed put and waited for him to come back in the room. I didn't think for one second that Cloud had figured out what was wrong with Sora. Not when not even I, Sora's own twin brother, couldn't figure out what was wrong using what I knew.

It was preposterous to think that he had figured it out, right?

* * *

'_I am going to kill Roxas.'_

That was what I decided after he dragged me out of the house, shoved me in his car, and then drove me out to Squall and Cloud's house and left me alone with Squall.

I really wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, least of all Squall. He was always the one who could get me to crack and tell him anything, and I wasn't ready for him to know about me and Riku just then. So I decided not to talk at all.

That didn't go over too well with Squall.

"Sora, Roxas told me you had a fight with Riku."

'I'm not going to kill Roxas, I'm going to murder him slowly and painfully.' I avoided Squall's questioning gaze by looking at the floor. If I wasn't looking at him, I'd be less likely to tell him everything. "It's nothing." I told him.

"Since when do you and Riku fight over 'nothing'?" Squall asked. "You two have never fought over trivial things, not even when you were kids. In fact, the first thing you two ever had a big fight about was when Riku was going to run away from home and wanted you to go with him."

I remember that. It was when I was six and Riku was seven. His brothers, Loz, Yazoo, and Kadaj, were around fifteen, thirteen, and ten. They had been picking on him a lot more than usual for a few months and his parents didn't believe him when he told them, so Riku decided he was going to run away from home. I remember that I asked him to come live with me and Roxas and Squall, but he refused and told me to come run away with him and then we started fighting. That was when Squall, who was ten at the time, stepped in and made us stop fighting. In fact, if it weren't for Squall then Riku probably would have run away that day.

I still refused to say anything. To be honest, I didn't want to even think about Riku right then. To me, Kairi not coming over to hang out with us because Riku was there meant that Riku had done something to her. I didn't want to believe it, but what else could I think at that time?

Squall sighed and for a moment I thought that he had given up trying to get me to talk. I should have known that I wasn't going to be that lucky.

"Sora, I will find out what is bothering you." Squall told me. "You know as well as I that I have ways to make you talk."

I did know that. Like I said, he could always get me to talk when no one else could. Most of the time it involved him tickling me. So at first I was relieved when Cloud walked into the room.

"Sora, are you and Riku dating?" He asked me.

So much for being relieved that he was in the room. That was even worse.

I stiffened in my hair and turned around and raised my eyes to look at Cloud. 'How does he know? Does Roxas know? Why did he have to ask me that in front of Squall of all people?'

"Dating?" I squeaked. "Me and Riku? What gave you that idea?"

"Roxas told me you had a fight with Riku." Cloud said, crossing his arms over his chest. "And that when he came in the house you yelled for Riku to not touch me. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that normal best friends don't yell things like that when they're fighting."

I remained silent for a moment and they patiently waited for my answer. After a few minutes I finally nodded and quietly said, "Yes."

"How long?" Squall asked me.

"About a month." I said, looking back down at the ground. I didn't want to see Squall's reaction to this. I figured that he'd be made that I didn't tell him sooner.

"I take it that Roxas doesn't know." Squall said with a sigh.

I shook my head. "He doesn't. I don't want him to know yet." I managed to look up at Squall. "Please don't tell him." I said pleadingly. "I want to tell him. I just… I gotta figure out the best time."

Squall nodded. "Don't wait too long." He advised. "The longer you wait, the angrier that Roxas will be."

"And next time you come over, bring Riku with you." Cloud said. "He needs to have a nice long talk with me and Squall about a few things. We can call it a special 'older brother and future-brother-in-law threatening talk'. Or something."

I laughed and promised to bring Riku by the next time I visited. I almost wanted to make fun of Cloud for his 'creativity', but I didn't.

Then Cloud went back to talk to Roxas and Squall and I talked for a while longer before we all went out back to sit on the porch and play a board game and a few card games.

And then Roxas and I drove home. Along the way I thought of Riku and knew that I had to go talk to him. I couldn't not talk to him forever. I loved him.

* * *

End Chapter

* * *

Saturday, Nov 24-

Done! (throws self across desk) That's the last time I shut myself up in my room for about six hours straight after drinking 3 cups of coffee and taking a Pepsi with me just so I can get some writing done. I got over ten pages done! Ten! Urg... Now my hand hurts and I can't type straight. I'm really starting to hate NaNoWriMo. I'm almost done with the story and right now I'm only at a little over 22000 words. Somehow I have to get 28000 more words written by midnight next Friday. Can I do it?


	10. 10 Riku, Kairi, and Roxas: Decisions

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to Square Enix and Disney.

* * *

Angel in Disguise

_10. Riku, Kairi, and Roxas: Decisions_

That was it. I had had enough. Sora was pissed at me because Kairi was avoiding us, I knew that Roxas knew that we were all hiding something from him, and Squall _knows _about Sora and I. We had to do something about it.

I panicked when I got the phone call from Squall. And once I hung up the phone after talking to him, my panic turned to disbelief. How could Sora tell Squall without me there with him? I did feel a little bad for him though, considering that he had to face both Squall and Cloud at the same time on his own.

After Squall called me I hoped that I would soon hear from Sora, since it sounded like Sora did want to talk to me.

I wasn't disappointed.

I was laying on my bed doing some last minute Physics homework when someone knocked on my door. I knew it wasn't my brothers since they would have just barged right into the room. And they were off doing something outside of the house for once, so it couldn't have been them. I also knew it wasn't my parents, since my dad was off at Radiant Gardens doing something business related and my mom was working late on the main land like usual. That meant it was either the maid, Sora, or Kairi.

It was Sora.

My pencil fell from my hands when he opened the door and I looked at him in surprise. I had really thought that I would be the one who would go talk to him first, not the other way around. I was happy though, since it meant not having to face Roxas just then.

"Sora, what--"

"I'm sorry." Sora interrupted me.

I was taken aback by the apology. Did Kairi talk to him or did he figure things out on his own? Kairi was gone so he couldn't have talked to her and I very greatly doubted that he figured it out on his own. What was he sorry about, exactly? Was it that he overreacted or was it something entirely different? Did he know that it was all just a big misunderstanding?

"I should have let you explain." Sora said when I remained silent. "I shouldn't have yelled at you like that." He looked at me sadly. "Please say something, Riku. Please." He begged.

"Sora… It's not your fault." I said as I got off of my bed. "It's my fault too. I didn't try to stay and explain things. I didn't try to call you the next day to explain things either. I didn't even call you to tell you that Kairi and Naminé were going to the main land for a few days."

Sora looked at me in surprise. "How do you know that?"

I quickly explained to him how I had gone over to Kairi's house to get things cleared up and how she told me about her pen pal and that she was going to visit him and that she was taking Naminé with her. Sora listened to me and asked a question here and there, but was otherwise quiet.

"She should be back today." I said. "Maybe we could go visit her. Then we can all three sit down and talk and we can ask her how her trip went." I suggested, hoping that he would say yes.

Sora brightened up when he heard my idea. "Lets go! Hey, you think I could act all angry and make her think I'm really made at her for not telling me where she was going?"

I chuckled. "Sora, you know as well as I do that you could never act like you were mad at Kairi. You would end up smiling and giving your act away." I walked over to him and affectionately ruffled his hair, grinning when he smacked my hand away. "Come on, Sora. Lets go call Kairi."

"Okay!" Sora chirped. "Hey, Riku, can I drive your car?"

I didn't even have to think about the answer to that question. "No, Sora." I said. "I still remember what you did to your poor Firebird. You are not going to ever drive my Loremo." I told him as we walked out of my room and down the hall.

Sora pouted. "Aww, come on, Riku. I'll be careful!"

"Absolutely not." I refused. "I wouldn't even trust you to park my baby." I said as we started to walk down the stairs.

"Meanie." Sora muttered. "I wouldn't hurt it by just moving it a few feet."

"Sora, need I remind you about the time that Kairi had you move her Mazda a few feet?" I asked. "Do you remember that the next time she tried to start up her car, it took her five times of trying to crank it before it would actually start? We still don't know what happened to make it do that. You and cars just don't mix." I teased him, which made him pout again.

"That wasn't my fault. Her car just didn't like me, that's all." Sora said.

I rolled my eyes as we came to the bottom of the stairs. Then I walked over to the small table we had the phone on and picked up the phone.

"Can I call her?" Sora asked me eagerly. "It feels like ages since I last talked to her!"

I raised an eyebrow. It's been three days." I told him as I handed him the phone.

Sora stuck him tongue out at me and then quickly dialed Kairi's number. He danced out of my reach when I tried to tickle him for sticking his tongue out at me.

"Kairi?" He asked, turning his full attention to the phone conversation. "Hey! Riku says you've been over on the main land visiting some pen pal or something."

I smirked. That was my chance. With all of his attention on his conversation with Kairi I could easily sneak over to him and tickle him. I moved slowly, trying not to get his attention, until I was within arms reach. Then I simply reached out and began tickling him.

Sora shrieked and nearly dropped the phone on the wood floor. For a moment I felt bad for Kairi since Sora had just yelled in her ear. My pity for her soon dissipated as Sora told her that he and I would be over soon and then he hung up and set the phone back on the table. I gulped when he looked at me with eyes that promised revenge.

"Ah, Sora, can we talk this over?" I asked hopefully. I started backing up slowly as Sora started walking toward me. I knew then that words would not deter Sora, so I took off running, hoping that I could outrun him.

Unfortunately, I had forgotten that he was on the track team at school (somehow) and could run much faster than I could. I ended up being tackled to the ground by him and, as I fell down, I thought about how glad I was that he waited until we were on the soft living room carpet instead of on the hardwood floor that most of the other rooms had.

"Gotcha." Sora said triumphantly.

"Do you?" I asked breathlessly. "And now that you have me, what are you going to do with me?'

Sora seemed to think about it for a moment before he grinned and leaned down and kissed me.

Once again, life was perfect.

* * *

'Well that was interesting.' I thought as I hung up the phone after talking to Sora. I brushed it off as something normal and then walked sleepily back upstairs to my room, hoping that Naminé had finished getting dressed. 

We had gotten back from Twilight Town early that morning and both of us were exhausted. We had stayed up late the night before hanging out with Pence and his two friends Olette and Hayner. And after hanging out at their usual spot, Naminé and I went with Olette to her house, which was where we were staying, and spent nearly the entire night talking.

It's hard to tell the time in Twilight Town! I mean, it's always sunset there and unless you've lived there for a while you really can't tell the time by looking outside. It is beautiful there, though. I would love to live there.

Anyway, after staying up almost all night, it was little wonder that Naminé and I were exhausted. We could barely even get dressed properly that morning. I felt lucky enough that I managed to get a shirt and pants on properly, ignoring the fact that my pants were, in fact pajama pants with little clouds on them, and that my shirt was black with a devil smiley on it.

Naminé was a little better off, although she was wearing her shirt inside out and backwards. We're still not sure how she managed to pull that one off.

I got up the stairs, only tripping one, and barely remembered to knock on the bedroom door instead of opening it and going right in.

"Come in." Naminé said.

I opened the door and walked in only to stop abruptly and look at Naminé in surprise. She wasn't wearing her usual white dress, but a new outfit that she got when we went over to Sunset Terrace, which is in Twilight Town.

It was in the same general style as her usual; white dress, except it was layered and the bottom of the skirt had a larger scalloped edge and had cut out stars above each of the rounded edges. The other layer was a pale blue color and underneath of that was a dark blue layer done in the same style as the outer, except the sleeves were designed to lay off the shoulders.

"Wow, Naminé." I breathed. "You look- wow." I was speechless. I couldn't even begin to tell her how beautiful she looked.

She seemed to understand though, since she blushed and self consciously smoothed out the skirt. "Do you," She hesitated a moment and looked over at me. "Do you think that Roxas will like it?"

I was momentarily taken aback by the question. And then I grinned and hurried across the room to grab her hand and pull her over to my bed so we could sit and talk.

"When did you realize you liked him?" I asked excitedly.

Naminé blushed. "A few days ago." She admitted. "I was talking to my friend Marluxia and I asked him why he thought I was in love with Roxas."

I raised an eyebrow. "So you had talked to him about this before then?"

Naminé nodded. "Uh-huh. It was the day that Sora asked us to follow Roxas. I got upset when I saw him and Axel together so I went to the park hoping I'd find something to draw so I could distract myself. He was out grocery shopping and cut through the park on his way home and ran into me. I didn't really believe him when he asked me if I was in love with Roxas. Actually, it was more like he was telling me that I am in love with Roxas." She sighed. "I told him I wasn't, although I don't think he really believed me."

"You know, you could have come to me and talked to me about this." I told her. "You didn't have to go find Marluxia to talk to him."

"I didn't want to trouble you." She said. "And… I knew that you were all confused about Sora and Riku. And Marluxia was just there and I couldn't help but talk to him. He gives such good advice."

I briefly considered talking to him about my own problems, but I quickly dismissed that. Marluxia was nice, but I wouldn't have felt comfortable talking to him. I barely knew him.

"I still wish you had told me before now." I told her. "Oh well, better a little late than never. Now," I got up from my bed and looked her over. "It's missing something. Maybe… a belt?" I snapped my fingers and hurried over to my closet and went inside, stumbling over some of the clothes laying on the floor. I made a mental note to clean up the mess later. I quickly retrieved my hanger of blue belts and carried it over to Naminé. I quickly compared all of the dark blue ones to the dark blue on her dress until I found three that matched. I soon discarded the sequined one, so then I had a plain belt and a thin one with a pouch attached.

"Which one?" I asked her, holding them up for her to see.

She looked at them for a moment and then pointed to the one with the pouch. "That one."

I grinned and tossed the plain one aside and then motioned for Naminé to stand up. When she did, I expertly clipped it around her waist and then stood back to admire the effect. "Perfect." I said, pleased. "Roxas won't be able to keep his eye off of you."

Naminé blushed, which wasn't much of a surprise. It was so easy to make her blush. And it was fun too.

Her blush suddenly darkened and for a moment I wondered why. But then I heard, "Wow, Naminé, you look pretty."

I turned around to see Sora and Riku standing in my bedroom doorway. Riku looked like he was trying his hardest to not laugh at something and Sora was looking at me with a confused expression on his face.

"Nice outfit, Kai." Riku said, unable to hide his amusement any longer.

I looked down at what I was wearing and had to fight back an embarrassed blush. I was still wearing my pajama pants and the black t-shirt. I decided to play it off and I struck a pose. "Like what you see, boys?" I asked teasingly. "This is going to be part of my new wardrobe."

Riku started to laugh, knowing that I was joking, which made Sora even more confused.

"It looks like you got dressed in the dark." Riku remarked. "I hope you didn't go out into public dressed like that."

"Actually, I did." I said. "I think it greatly amused our ferry driving, along with Pence and his friends. And I'm sure that it'll be used as a nice piece of blackmail in the future, considering that Pence got a few pictures of us before we realized what he was doing."

Riku smirked. "I suppose we should be glad that you managed to put your underwear on under your clothes this time."

That time I did blush. "Hey! I was five!" I said heatedly. "And it's not like I wore them on my head like Sora did!"

It was Sora's turn to blush that time.

We spent the next hour or so teasing each other about past wardrobe malfunctions. And then Roxas got brought into our conversation and things got more serious.

"You guys need to tell Roxas." I said seriously. "You said that Squall and Cloud know, right? And that Cloud figured it out on his own? Roxas is a lot like Cloud. Even if you don't tell him, he will find out."

"I know." Sora said. "Will you guys go with us? That was we won't back out or anything."

I looked at them in surprise. Did they really want us to go along? Were they finally ready to tell Roxas about them? Sora seemed pretty sure of it and Riku looked uneasy, which wasn't too surprising. After all, if Roxas would be at all angry about it, although I really doubted that he'd be angry, but his rage would have been directed at Riku, not at Sora.

"We'll go with you." Naminé told them.

I nodded and agreed with her and soon we were getting in Riku's car and driving over to Sora and Roxas's house.

I hoped that Roxas wouldn't take it too hard.

* * *

I got off the phone feeling happier than I had in days. Axel had finally called me back and had invited me over. He, Larxene, and Demyx had plans to go to the mainland that day and he wanted me to go with them. I had agreed without a second thought. 

I walked around the house in a daze, trying to find my wallet. I was always losing that thing. Although most of the time I would find it in the pocket of the pants I had worn a day or two before, there was one instance in which I found it in the refrigerator.

I finally found it, buried underneath a pile of letters and bills on the island table in the kitchen. I was getting ready to walk out the door when Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Naminé walked into the kitchen. I had to do a double take when I saw them, but it wasn't because of how quiet they were being or because of what Kairi was wearing. (which I later found out was pajama pants and a shirt that Tidus had got her for her birthday one year.)

It was Naminé. She looked beautiful. I mean, she always looked beautiful, but that day she looked as if she were glowing. I didn't have time to compliment her on it or to continue stare at her in awe.

"Roxas, I- well, that is, me and Riku - we have something to tell you." Sora said, making me take my eyes off of Naminé.

What he said next I will never forget. I only regret that I panicked the way I did.

"Riku and I are dating."

In that moment, every thought in my head ground to a shrieking halt and then slammed straight into panic mode while I gaped at Sora. Within seconds all of the panic crashed down on me and I did the one - very stupid - thing I was capable of doing.

I ran.

* * *

End Chapter

* * *

. 


	11. 11 Roxas: Falling

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to Square Enix and Disney.

* * *

This is the chapter that you will probably all want to kill me over. When I first started this story, I wanted it to be purely Axel and Roxas. And then I got this one plot idea and it wouldn't leave me alone, so I took the idea and ran with it.

* * *

Angel in Disguise

_11. Roxas: Falling_

I wish that I hadn't run away that morning. I should have stayed and been supportive of my brother and Riku. Because then I wouldn't have had to go back and try to make things right again. I had screwed up and asking for Sora and Riku's forgiveness wasn't going to be easy.

It was Axel who convinced me that I had to go back home and face Sora and Riku. He told me that I shouldn't be afraid of being just like Sora, since we were entirely different people.

And then he kissed me.

That bastard kissed me right then and there on the sidewalk with no warning at all! I took a step away from him and demanded to know why he did that. He told me that he was testing me. I didn't really see the point of it at first and then he explained it so that I would understand and the only thing I could say was, "Kiss me again?"

So he did.

It was after that that I realized for the first time that Axel had been honestly flirting with me ever since that day in the hospital. I asked him why, but he didn't give me a straight answer. I wish now that I had remained oblivious to his flirting. Maybe it would hurt less.

After our day on the main land, Axel drove me home in his old car and gave me a goodnight kiss before he let me out of the car. I didn't protest, although I did wish that he would go inside with me to help me face Sora and Riku. When I asked him to go inside with me, he shook his head and told me that it was something I needed to do on my own.

I walked into the house, dreading the confrontation that was coming. They weren't downstairs waiting like I figured they would be, but Kairi was and she looked pissed off. I knew I had to speak before she had a chance to start yelling.

"Kairi, before you yell at me, let me say that I know it was stupid and heartless of me to run off." I said quickly. "I know I should have stayed and given my support and I'm really sorry that I didn't. Please don't yell at me.

Kairi crossed her arms over her chest and scowled. "I should yell at you, but I won't. And I'm not the one you need to apologize to. Sora and Riku are upstairs in Sora's room. Now if you will excuse me, I'm going home." Without another word, she brushed right past me and left the house.

I looked over at the stairs and gulped before I walked over to them and slowly began to ascend them. I reached the top all too soon and slowly made my way down the hall to Sora's room. I paused outside of the cracked door and hoped they weren't doing anything that I didn't want to see.

I opened the door a little wider and looked in. I was relieved to see them cuddled up on the bed together, fully clothed. I knocked on the door to get their attention and they both looked up at me at the exact same time. They had been waiting for me.

"Roxas?" Sora asked. He sounded exhausted.

I nodded. "Yeah, it's me."

"What do you want?" Riku asked coldly.

'_For you to stop cuddling my baby brother'_ was one thought that popped into my head, but I didn't dare say that out loud. "I want to apologize to both of you." I said honestly. "I- I shouldn't have run away like that." It was so much harder to apologize to Riku and Sora than it was to apologize to Kairi. Probably because I knew that if I paused even once when I was talking to Kairi then she wouldn't hesitate to yell at me. Sora and Riku would stay quiet until I finished.

"It was stupid of me to run away right after you told me. There's no excuse for doing something like that. I just… I panicked." I looked pleadingly at Sora, hoping that he would understand even a little. "I was afraid. Please forgive me?"

Sora remained silent for a moment and then he nodded. "You came back and you apologized. We forgive you for running, don't we Riku?" He looked to his boyfriend, who sighed and then nodded.

"Yeah, we forgive you." Riku muttered. "Now go away so we can get some sleep."

I nodded and shut the door so I wouldn't have to see Riku cuddle with Sora anymore. The image was burned into my head as it was. I just knew that I was going to have nightmares about it that night.

* * *

The day after that is a day that I will never forget. I got up early for once and was strangely wide awake. I had never woken up and not spent the next hour in a daze. I should have known then that something was very, very wrong.

I went downstairs where I found Sora eating some kind of chocolaty cereal while Riku was drinking coffee. He was almost as hard to wake up in the mornings as I was.

I poured myself a glass of orange juice and managed not to spill it everywhere for once. As I was getting ready to take a drink, the phone rang. I wondered who was calling at seven in the morning as I walked over and picked up the phone. I noticed that Sora looked at me in surprise. It was probably because I was alert enough to have actually noticed that the phone rang.

"Hello?" I answered the phone.

I was surprised to hear that it was Demyx who was calling me. He sounded really upset about something and his words were unintelligible, so I tried to get him to calm down and speak rationally. Once he did, I regretted it.

"Axel's in the hospital, Roxas. He's dying."

Simultaneously, the phone and my glass of orange juice slipped from my hands and fell to the ground. The glass shattered into pieces and the orange juice spilled everywhere, while the phone skittered across the floor. I can vaguely remember Sora and Riku running over to me as I fell to my knees in the glass and started crying. I'm sure I'll have scars from the glass.

All I could think about - all I could hear - were those six words repeating over and over again in my head. I was numb to everything else.

* * *

I don't know how Sora and Riku got me to the hospital. I don't remember at all. It was like when Sora was in there, only ten times worse.

It hadn't really sunk in right then, even when I saw Axel on the hospital bed looking even weaker and more frail than when I very first met him. Demyx was coming in and out of the room, trying to hide the fact that he was crying. At one point Axel weakly laughed and called him a sissy for crying so much, which resulted in Demyx running out of the room as he started bawling.

I even saw Larxene crying. Tall, strong Larxene who I had never seen project any true emotions other than joy when she'd laugh at Demyx when he'd trip or fall or when one of the others guys would say or do something stupid.

That was my breaking point. I sat down in my chair and sobbed for what felt like hours before Squall arrived and carried me out to his van and drove me out to his and Cloud's and Zack and Aerith's house. I didn't once complain. I didn't have the strength to.

I don't really remember how long I stayed with Cloud and Squall. Sora told me that I was there for two days before they let me go back to the hospital. By that time I was beginning to think more clearly, so I remember what happened at the hospital very clearly.

That day I was the only one in the room with Axel. Larxene had dragged Demyx home to lock him up in his room hoping that he would sleep. He hadn't slept since they took Axel to the hospital. I was sitting in the chair beside Axel's bed while he slept, trying not to think about Axel dying.

"Hey, Roxas?"

I nearly jumped out of my chair when he spoke to me. I thought he was asleep!

"Y-yeah?" I asked. My voice was horribly hoarse and I was trying my best to not let it break up.

Axel turned his head to look at me. "Could you do me a favor and light that candle?" He asked. "The nurses blow it out whenever they come in here, no matter that I tell them I want it lit." He weakly chuckled. "I think they're afraid I'll try to light myself on fire or something."

I hesitated for a moment when he said that, wondering if that was his plan.

"I'm not going to light myself on fire, Roxas." Axel said. "I'm not that dumb."

I bit back a retort as I got up, walked around to the other side of the bed, and picked up the box of matches that was laying on the table, wishing that he had a lighter instead. I always ended up burning myself when I used matched. I cautiously struck the match and was relieved and surprised when I didn't burn myself. I quickly lit the candle, which looked like it was about ready to be replaced by a new one, if the way the wick was down to a centimeter and if the way wax was tumbling over the holder was any indication. Then I shook out the match and deposited it in the ash tray with the rest of the used matches.

"My angel." Axel said with a weak chuckle.

"I'm no angel, Axel." I said as I walked back over to my chair and sat down. I reached out with one hand to hold his, which made him smile. "If anything," I whispered as tears stung at my eyes. "If anything, you are _my _angel."

Axel squeezed my hand. "Maybe… it goes both ways for us." He whispered back. "You are my angel; my light."

"And you are my angel; my undying flame." I whispered, not caring about how cheesy that sounded. It made Axel smile, and that's all that mattered.

"I am, aren't I?" He asked softly. "The Flurry of Dancing Flames. Yeah, that's me alright." He closed his eyes with a sigh. "And you… you are the key… the Key of Destiny." He whispered.

On the table, the candle flame flickered.

"Axel, I love you." I said suddenly. I couldn't help it. I had to let him know that. "I want you to know that." My throat closed up after I said that and tears poured freely down my face. I didn't care.

The flame flickered again and snapped, most likely sending a spark into the air.

"Love you too, Roxas." Axel murmured.

The candle flame flickered for a final time and then died just as Axel took his last breath.

My mind went numb again, although that time I could tell what was going on around me. The nurses came rushing in when the machine monitoring Axel's heart rate flat lined.

I couldn't move. I sat there and looked at Axel's body, wishing that he would move. That he would sit up with a grin on his face and ask me if I wanted to go to the Moon Café later. He didn't, of course.

And then Naminé, dear sweet Naminé, came into the room and helped me to my feet and led me out of there. She didn't even mind me crying all over her dress.

I don't know what I would have done without her or Sora or Squall and Leon or Kairi or even Riku. I just know I would have fallen apart.

* * *

End Chapter

* * *


	12. 12: Collision

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to Square Enix and Disney.

* * *

Angel in Disguise

_12. Collision_

_That was all just four months ago._

_It's amazing, isn't it? What can happen in just two weeks. I still find it hard to believe. It was like living in some kind of nightmare only without the crazed demons and volcanic pits._

_What happened after Axel died?_

_I wasn't really aware of much until three days after when Sora, Kairi, Riku, Naminé, and I went down to the funeral home to pay our respects to Axel. Yes, even Kairi and Riku, even though they didn't like him all that well._

_Everyone who lived with Axel was there. Even Xemnas and Saix, who never got along very well with him._

_Nobody had anything bad to say about him that night, but everyone had a funny story or two to tell. I sat in the back, as far away from the coffin as I could possibly get, and listened to everyone talk. I was amazed by some of the stories I heard and I marveled at how strong that Larxene and Demyx were. They went around and talked to everyone and not once did I see a tear._

_By the end of the night, everyone except for me had been up to the front of the room to say goodbye. I tried at one point during the evening, but I couldn't get past the middle of the room before I choked up and had to go sit back down._

_I couldn't do it. I couldn't bring myself to go up to the front of the room and say goodbye. I didn't want to say goodbye. It hurt too much. But I knew that I would regret it if I didn't go up there._

_So I waited until there were only a few people left in the room before I shakily got up and began walking up to the front. I had to stop when I got to the middle of the room. I took a moment to collect myself and then I went a little closer. I was five feet away when I had to stop again. I avoided looking at the coffin as I collected myself, knowing that if I looked at it I wouldn't make it up there to him. Then I walked the rest of the way to him._

_It looked like he was sleeping. Like he could just get up and give me his silly grin and say, "Hey, Roxas, wanna go do something?"_

_He wouldn't though. I would never again hear his voice or see that grin of his. I wouldn't get any phone calls in the middle of the night with him asking me to sneak out and meet him somewhere. I wouldn't get any dates. No more kisses. No more listened to him burst out into song in the middle of town and then get smacked by Larxene._

_No more Axel._

_I leaned down and kissed him gently on the cheek. "Goodbye, Axel." I whispered before I turned around and left._

_I didn't look back._

_Going to school two days later was hard, not only because of Axel's death. Rumors about Sora and Riku dating had spread and not everyone was happy about them being together. We all stayed close to them that day, especially Sora._

_I wasn't much help to them. I was still mourning Axel's death and I couldn't concentrate on anything for very long. In some ways, I am still mourning his death._

_But that's what this book is for. Naminé suggested it as a type of therapy and I couldn't help but agree. She could be convincing when she wanted to be._

_It's helping, I think. And I like that the others got involved in it too. It took all of us - me, Kairi, Naminé, Sora, and Riku - working together to get this finished. We had to work together to get all of our facts straight and to remember everything that happened._

_So this is it. This is the story of our Spring Vacation that changed everything. In some ways, I'm glad it happened. But in other ways I wish… I wish a lot of things. But there's no use in dwelling on what could have happened or what I wish had happened._

_What happened, happened. Nothing will ever change that._

_

* * *

_

Roxas sighs and drops his pencil on his desk before he stretches his arms over his head, wincing at cracking of his bonds grating together after being still for so long. He is relieved to be finished writing.

"All done?" Naminé asks from her spot on his bed. She's wearing the layered dress that she got in Twilight Town during spring break and has her hair twisted up into a loose and messy bun.

Roxas spins around in his chair and smiles at her. "All done." He agrees happily. "Man am I sore."

Naminé giggles. "You've been sitting there for three hours working on the book. It's not wonder you're sore." She gets off of the bed and walks over to him. "Turn around and don't get up." She tells him sternly.

Roxas complies and nearly jumps out of the town when Naminé starts massaging his stiff shoulders. "When did you learn this?" He asks, relaxing as the tension leaves his body. "Feels nice…" He mumbles.

"My mom taught me last month." Naminé says, pleased that Roxas is listening to her and is staying in the chair. She had tried to massage Riku and Sora, but there both made their escape as soon as they could.

"Your mom?" Roxas asks, trying not to yawn. "Oh, right. She's a massage therapist. That's how she met your dad, right?"

Naminé nods. "Yes. And then he got her into art and she started painting on the side." She stops massaging his shoulders, unable to go any further down his back because of the chair. She orders him to get on the bed and take off his shirt and lay on his stomach.

"What?!" Roxas yelps in surprise, springing out of the chair and away from Naminé.

Naminé tries not to laugh at the look on his face. "It's so I can finish the massage, Roxas. Unless you like having a sore back."

Roxas weighs his options for a few seconds and then complies with her demands. Like most people, he's rather not be sore. But when Naminé straddles his lower back instead of sitting beside him, he nearly jumps up and falls off the bed.

"Sit still, Roxas." Naminé says, a little amused by how jumpy he is. "You're even worse than Kairi!" She starts massaging his shoulders once again and decides to talk to him as she make her way down to his lower back. "So, how do you feel now that you're done writing?"

"I feel better, but it feels like something is missing in the book." Roxas admits. "Like there's suppose to be more to it. I just don't know what it is that's missing."

"You'll figure it out." Naminé says, confident in his abilities. "We still need to go over it and edit everything. We'll be adding things and taking things out and changing the wording of things. We have plenty of time to get it right."

"Yeah." Roxas agrees, closing his eyes.

The two fall into a peaceful silence, which is soon broken by someone walking into the room.

"Well, it's obvious that _something _is going on in here." Kairi remarks, making both Roxas and Naminé turn their heads to look at her. Roxas groans at the movement and looks away.

Kairi laughs and walks across the room to sit on the bed beside them. "Putting your talents to good use, I see." She teases Naminé. "You might want to get off of him before Demyx comes up."

"Demyx?" Naminé and Roxas ask in unison. Neither of them have heard anything from Demyx or any of the others since the night at the funeral home.

Naminé runs her hands soothingly down Roxas's back and then gets up and smoothes out her dress. "Where is Demyx now?" She asks.

"He's downstairs talking to Sora and Riku right now." Kairi says. "He says he has something for you two. He didn't tell me what it was, though."

"Maybe we should go downstairs." Naminé suggests.

"No need." Demyx says as he walks into the room. He looks tired and his eyes are as cheerful as they once were. He manages a small smile for Roxas and Naminé. "Kairi's right, I do have something for you. I have letters from Axel."

Roxas sits up straight and looks at Demyx in surprise and a soft gasp can be heard from Naminé as he sits down on the edge of the bed.

"L-letters?" Naminé asks faintly. "He left us letters?"

Demyx nods. "Yeah. I… he asked me to deliver them before he…" He stops unable to say the word.

"He know?" Roxas asks in a hushed tone. "He knew that he was going to- going to die and he didn't say anything to me? Not once!" His voice rises in anger with each word. "Why didn't he tell me?"

To everyone's surprise, it's Naminé who answers the question and not Demyx.

"He didn't want you to be sad." She says tearfully. "Axel hated getting looks of pity from people. He wanted to see you while you were happy like you were before."

"Like… before?" Roxas asks, frowning. "What do you mean?"

"The dreams, Roxas!" Naminé says, sounding like she's about to start crying. "The dreams of a time long past. The dreams that aren't dreams at all, but memories. The memories of worlds - of places - so similar to our own, except then they were all separate. Memories of a time… when we should have never existed."

The dream - memory - of the white room stuck out in Roxas's mind and he could hear a sad voice that sounded a lot like a younger Naminé saying, _"You… were never suppose to exist, Roxas."_

"Don't you remember?" Kairi asks. "When we were little kids, Sora would wake up screaming and crying and begging Riku not to leave. And then he would refuse to let any of us out of his sight for days afterwards."

"And Axel said you knew our nicknames." Demyx speaks up. "Although, it's not too surprising that you didn't know we call Xemnas 'man sex' sometimes. We didn't really dare to say that out loud back then."

Naminé giggles. "He probably would have 'light saber'd' you."

Demyx grins for the first time in weeks. "That reminds me of the time when Axel thought it'd be funny to get Xemnas a pair of light sabers for his birthday. He went totally Sith lord on Axel and chased him around the house yelling, 'Submit to the dark side!'" He laughs. "I think we still have pictures of that. I should show you."

"Wait!" Roxas interrupts, very confused by what they've been telling him. "What are you guys trying to say? That we had some kind of screwed up past life and that now we dream about it?"

"No." Naminé says, shaking her head.

Everything and everyone around Naminé and Roxas freezes in place and then the room and the others fade away to black. Roxas looks around and is surprised to find himself in the white and black checkered clothes that he was fond of when he was fourteen. Naminé is back in her plain white dress.

"What's going on?" Roxas demands. "Naminé, tell me what's going on!"

"This whole life is a dream, Roxas." Naminé explains to him. "Everything that has happened is part of your dream. Part of our dream." She corrects herself. "When we rejoined with Sora and Kairi, what else could we do but dream?"

"So… none of it's real?" Roxas asks, even more confused than before.

Naminé shakes her head. "No, but it could be." She sighs softly. "Roxas, we have a choice. We could choose what we just went through as our future - our next life. Or… or we could choose to start all over again in a completely new life. But if we do that, I don't even know if we'll see each other again. You may never meet Sora or Kairi or Riku or Axel. You may never even meet me. Things in that life could be horrible or they could be wonderful. It's your choice."

"It's up to me?" Roxas asks, surprised. "But what about you? Don't you get a choice?"

Naminé smiles. "I've already made my choice, Roxas. I made up my mind years ago."

"Then… I don't have to think about my choice." Roxas says. "I already know which one to choose." He closes his eyes. "I choose…" He pauses a moment as he opens his eyes and gives Naminé a smile. "I choose this. I choose this life, because for all of the bad things that happen there are a million good things. And… I would rather have known Axel and then lost him rather than not know him at all. And most of all, I know that without you I would be lost."

Naminé beams and then runs forward and hugs him tightly. "I knew you'd make the right choice!" She exclaims before she kisses him on a the cheek. Then she takes a step back and takes his hand. "Ready to go back?" She asks.

Roxas nods. "Yeah. Lets go."

A door appears in the darkness and the two walk through it to rejoin the life they've been living. The life that they chose.

* * *

"… 'Submit to the dark side!'" Demyx says with a laugh. "I think we still have pictures of that. I should show you." 

"I wouldn't mind seeing those." Roxas says, surprising Kairi and Demyx. "You'll have to bring them by one day. OR better yet, we could use that story and those pictures in our book."

"Book?" Demyx asks. "You're writing a book?"

Roxas nods. "Yeah. Naminé suggested that I write it as a form of therapy and in honor of Axel. Right now I've only covered spring break. I think that what's missing is stories from you and everyone else who lived with Axel."

"Maybe… you could include the letters that Axel wrote." Demyx suggests, pulling two envelopes from the pocket of his jeans. He hands one to Roxas and the other to Naminé.

"No letter for me?" Kairi asks, feeling slightly hurt that Axel didn't think of her.

Demyx grins. "He said you might ask that. He also said that if you did, then I was suppose to give you…" He dug through a lower, bigger pocket on his jeans. "This!" He pulls a pink box from his pocket and hands it to Kairi. "By the way, Larxene says that you had better all come over for his birthday party next Thursday. She also wants you to know that the first person who tries to give her an embarrassing gift will get said gift shoved up their ass." He shrugs at the curious looks he receives. "Hey, I'm just passing along the message."

"We'll be there." Roxas promises. "Make sure you tell the others about the book."

Demyx nods. "I will." He promises.

They talk for a while longer and then Kairi escorts Demyx to the door, leaving Roxas and Naminé alone in the room. The two sit in silent for a few minutes, enjoying the peace.

"Hey, Roxas?" Naminé asks.

"Hm?"

"Can I ask you something?"

Roxas looks over at Naminé. "Sure, what is it?"

"Did…" Naminé hesitates for a moment, not sure if she wants to know the answer. "Did you love him? Axel, I mean."

Roxas is a little surprised by the question, but he doesn't show it. "I don't know." He says unsurely. "I think… I think I did. I told him I loved him right before he died, so… yeah. I loved him." He smiles bitterly. "That's the second time I've watched him die and been unable to do anything."

"Roxas…" Naminé whispers, her heard going out to her friend. She scoots around the bed and gives him a gentle hug. "I'm sure you'll see him again. It'll just be many, many years."

Roxas manages a weak smile. "Yeah. We both have an afterlife this time, don't we?" He looks down at Naminé and has to fight back a grin. To lighten the atmosphere, he says, "Hey, Naminé, your bra is showing."

Naminé squeaks and turns bright red before she smacks Roxas's chest. "Pervert! Stop looking!"

Roxas just laughs and looks away so she can fix the dress. As he looked out his bedroom window he could help but think, _'I wouldn't trade this life for any other.'_

* * *

End Chapter

* * *

One more chapter to go and then I start on the bonus chapters which will, hopefully, bump me up to 50000. I'm at 30,190 right now, so I need about 20,000 more words. 

I don't think I'm gonna make it to 50000. In fact, if I somehow do manage to do some crazy writing today and tonight, then maybe I will make it. I'll give it my best shot! I'm not going down without a fight, that's for sure!


	13. 13: Ending

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to Square Enix and Disney.

* * *

Angel in Disguise

_13. Ending_

Roxas Leonhart, now twenty-two years old and a recent graduate of Sunset University, the closest liberal arts college on the mainland, walks down the streets of his hometown with his twin brother, Sora, who is a recent graduate or Twilight University.

"So, you're really going to ask her tonight?" Sora asks excitedly, practically bouncing with joy. He hasn't changed much. He and Riku are still dating and he's just as high on life as he has ever been. "Can I go and watch? Pleeeeeease?" He begs.

"You should know by now that the pleading look does not work on me, Sora." Roxas says. "And no, you can not tag along. You'd probably bring Riku and Kairi with you and the three of you would be horribly distracting all night long."

Sora pouts and crosses his arms over his chest. "I would not." He mumbles, childishly kicking a rock down the sidewalk.

Roxas rolls his eyes, wishing that his twin would grow up and not act like a little kid when he didn't get his way. 'Riku's been spoiling him too much.' He thinks as he tries to ignore Sora by walking faster and looking in the windows of the stores as he passes them. He smiles at the sight of the shop with all the stuffed toys in the window and briefly toys with the idea of going in and getting something for Naminé.

"But Demyx works there and he'll get to watch. Why can't I go?" Sora asks as he catches up to Roxas. He's determined to not let the topic go. "It's not fair."

"You are really trying my patience today, Sora." Roxas mutters, wishing that he had not let Sora get the mocha at the coffee shot. He had forgotten how whiny Sora gets when he drinks coffee. "Yes, Demyx works at the restaurant, but he's off duty tonight. It's his and Zexion's one-year anniversary and he's taking the night off so they can spend it together."

"Oh." Sora falls silent for a few minutes, which Roxas is thankful for. "Hey, what if--"

"No." Roxas interrupts, not wanting to hear another word.

Sora pouts again. "You don't even know what I was going to ask!"

"I don't want to know." Roxas tells him. "I don't want to see you or Riku or even Kairi anywhere near that restaurant tonight, do you understand me?"

"Yes…" Sora mumbles, disappointed. "But what if I get hungry?"

Roxas tries not to let out an aggravated sigh. "There are other places to eat at, Sora."

"But what if Riku wants to take me somewhere nice?"

Roxas whirls around and glares at Sora. "Nowhere _near _the restaurant, _do you hear me_? There are several other fancy places you like to eat at much more. Don't test my patience anymore."

Sora gulps and then quickly nods. "Okay!"

They continue down the street, now in silence, and Roxas is just starting to relax when Sora yells, "Hey, Roxas!"

Roxas stops and turns around, praying that Sora isn't going to bother him about the restaurant any more. To his surprise, Sora is standing in front of a book store and looks excited about something. Roxas walks over to his twin and his jaw drops when he sees what's in the window.

There on a table with a 'New Release' sign suspended in the air, are hard back and soft back copies of a book titled 'Angel in Disguise'.

"It's our book!" Sora excitedly says, shaking Roxas's shoulder. "Can you believe it?! They have our book here!"

Roxas stares at the book in surprise. He has known that it would be coming out, but to actually see it there in the bookstore was amazing.

"Lets go home and see if they've delivered our box of books yet!" Sora says excitedly. "Come on, Roxas!" He says before he takes off running.

Roxas looks at the books for a few seconds longer and then sprints off after Sora.

* * *

Later that night Roxas finds himself sitting across the table from Naminé at her favorite Italian restaurant. The two have been talking about the release of the book through most of dinner. Neither of them notice the two brunet's, the white-nette, or the redhead sitting together at a table in the corner, watching the two intently.

At the end of dinner, when he's sure that Naminé has finished eating, Roxas gets up and walks over to her side. That's when he catches sight of the four in the corner. Solemnly vowing to kill Sora, Pence, Kairi, and Riku later, Roxas gently takes Naminé's hand.

"Roxas?" Naminé asks, a little confused. "Is something wrong?"

Roxas shakes his head. "No, everything's fine. I just…" He swallows nervously and reaches for the velvet box in his pocket. His eyes dart over to the quartet in the corner just as he takes the box from his pocket. When Kairi looks over at him and gives him a thumbs up, he accidentally drops the box and it falls to the ground and rolls to a stop at Naminé's feet.

For Roxas, time seems to stop as Naminé bends down and picks up the box with a curious expression on her face. She looks up at him, silently asking permission to open it.

"I can't do anything right." Roxas whispers dejectedly. "Go ahead. Open it." He looks away, ashamed that he was nervous enough to drop it.

Naminé carefully opens the box and gasps when she sees the diamond and sapphire ring resting on a cushion inside. She looks up at Roxas, her blue eyes hopeful. "Is this…?"

Roxas looks at her and nods, unable to say anything.

Naminé snaps the box closed before she jumps out of her seat and throws her arms around Roxas's neck before kissing him deeply. "Yes." She whispers. "But first," She pulls away and hands him the box. "Do it right?"

Roxas almost laughs in relief and joy. He settles for smiling broadly as he gets down on one knee. "Naminé, I love you." He says as he takes the ring from the box. He slips it on her finger as he asks, "Marry me?"

Naminé nods as she wipes a tear from her eye. "Yes." She says before she throws her arms around him for the second time and kissing him again.

Over in the corner, four people begin to cheer and whistle loudly, making a few people chuckle and others scowl. Other people around Naminé and Roxas clap politely.

* * *

That night, Roxas had a dream of an old friend. In it he finds himself sitting on top of the clock tower in Twilight Town watching the always setting sun.

"Hey, I got you something." A familiar voice says.

Roxas looks up in surprise. "Axel!"

The redhead grins. "The one and only." He says before handing Roxas an ice-cream bar. "I hope that's still your favorite. It was the only thing I could think of to bring."

Roxas smiles hesitantly. "It's fine." He says as he takes the ice cream.

Axel sits down beside him with a groan. "It's been a while, hasn't it? I hear you've got a book out. I thought you said you weren't an artsy person."

Roxas shrugs, his smile dimming as he looks out at the sunset. "This is a dream, isn't it?" He asks, although the tone of his voice suggests that it's a statement and not a question.

"Yeah, but who ever said dreams couldn't be real?" Axel asks, nudging Roxas's shoulder. "Come on, Roxy. Talk to me. I didn't come all the way down here just to be ignored."

"Axel, the memory dreams I can handle." Roxas says, still looking out at the sunset. "In those I know that you're still alive. But this," He looks over at Axel. "You're dead! I shouldn't be talking to you like this! It's not normal!"

Axel shrugs. "I guess I can understand that. I wouldn't feel too comfortable talking to a friend who's been dead for five years either." He pauses and frowns a little. "Damn, has it really been five years? It doesn't feel that long."

Roxas says nothing.

"Demyx tells me you guys are donating all the money from book sales to cancer research." Axel says, not deterred by Roxas's silence. "I appreciate that, you know. Too many people die from that."

"You've talked to Demyx?" Roxas asks. "When?"

"The first time was when he finally managed to fall asleep after I died." Axel says, happy that Roxas is talking to him. "I had to get him to calm down somehow and I figured that appearing in his room wouldn't be the best idea. That and it's really hard to talk to people like that. After that I've only talked to him about once a year. The last time was just last week." He pauses for a moment. "So, what's new with you? Are you still dating Naminé?"

"I proposed today." Roxas says, a small smile spreading across his face at the thought of her. "She said yes."

For a split second a look of pain crosses Axel's face. "Really? That's great." He says cheerfully. "Congratulations! It's about time you asked her!"

Roxas rolls his eyes. "I should have known you'd say something like that."

Axel grins and ruffles Roxas's hair. "Take care of her, okay? And take care of yourself too. I don't want to see either of you in the afterlife for a long, long time. And if you do anything really stupid I swear I'll come right down here and haunt your ass. And make sure to call Riku a bastard for me. Got it memorized?"

Roxas laughs. "Yes, I've got it memorized."

"Good." Axel says before he stands up. "See you in eighty years or so."

As Axel walks away, the dream fades to black and Roxas drifts off into true dreamland. But right before everything goes black, Roxas swears he hears Axel whisper, "Love you, Roxas."

* * *

_**THE END**_

* * *

And that's it. Well, except for the extra chapters. First up will be the _Letters from Axel_. And then I think I'll do replies to the letters from Axel. That should be fun.

So, did I meet my goal last night? Yes and no. Most of what I typed was complete and utter crap and will never see the light of day again. I've already deleted it. So, I've got 3 actual bonus chapters typed up that I will be posting soon. Other than those, it'll be a while before I write anything else for this fanfic. I've had enough of it for one month.

Now it's back to working on Herutsu no Oukoku. I need to get myself excited about that one so I can write alot. Anyone have any good ideas for silly little scenes that can happen in it?


	14. Extra 1: Axel's Letters

Extras

**Letters from Axel**

To Kairi:

You didn't really think I'd forget about my favorite annoying redhead did you? Hell, I even gave a letter to Riku. (Although the only thing I wrote on his was "fuck you too". He probably won't like that.)

Hey, remember that time at camp when I lit your bed on fire? Remember how I told you that it was a complete and total accident? Yeah… I lied. Just thought you should know.

Oh, and you remember how I said I dropped your lucky penny in the lake? That wasn't a lie, I really did do that. Remember how I told you that it was an accident too? It wasn't. I'm sorry that I lied about that too, but only because you locked me out of the cabin that whole night. That wasn't very nice, Kai. And by the way, that whole 'lets lock Axel out of the cabin for the entire night' thing was how Demyx knocking his orange juice on your plate the next morning happened. I dared him to do it. Sorry, my bad. I'm a bastard, I know.

You're probably ready to burn my letter now, aren't you? Either that or you're plotting the best way to bring me back to life so you can murder me.

Yeah, sorry about not telling you that I was dying. It would have ruined all my fun. See, I very much doubt that you would have argued and fought and plotted my murder as much as you did if you knew I was dying.

And since you may have made it through this letter without burning it or something, then I guess I could tell you this:

Do you remember that neck that you lost toward the end of camp? The one that you swore I stole? I found it the other day in my pocket. Don't you remember? The latch had broken and you asked me to hold onto it because you didn't have any pockets. So I didn't knowingly take it, we just both forgot that I had it.

Anyway, it's in the small envelope that was under this letter. I figured you'd want it back. I had the latch fixed for you too.

Don't miss me too much, my pretty redhead.

Love,

_Axel_

* * *

To Sora: 

Hey there, sexy. Make sure you don't let that boyfriend of yours read this letter. We wouldn't want him to know about our love affair, now would we? (wink, wink)

I kid of course.

Man, I really don't want to say to you. I mean, you're my Roxy's little brother and the reason I died the last time around. Although I guess I can't really blame you for my wonderful fiery death. That was my fault. I was an idiot then.

Watch out for Roxy for me. And for Kairi. She may not know it, but I really do consider her a friend. She's just too much fun to tease and I can't help myself. So maybe I see her as more of a little sister.

Take care of yourself too, alright? And maybe, just maybe, you could play a prank or two on Kairi and Riku and Roxas for me. Maybe get Namine involved in it. She can be really sneaky when she wants to be. You ought to have seen her at camp! I never want to see her and Marluxia teamed up as camp councilors ever again. It's scary as hell.

See you around,

_Axel_

_

* * *

_

To Riku:

Fuck you too

_-Axel_

* * *

To Namine: 

If you're reading this, then I am gone. You were the first person who I actually told personally that I was dying. Larxene and the others, they found out on their own somehow. Zexion can be sneaky as hell when he wants to be. (the bastard)

Don't be sad, ghostling. (ha, how ironic that I'm writing that. I'm the ghost now, huh?) Remember all the good, crazy times we had. Even though we did have very few 'hang out sessions', as Demyx would put it, in this life. Wish we had.

It's hard to write this letter to you. Hard to put what I want to say into words. You understand, don't you? You always did, even when I didn't say anything. Hell, somehow you knew how everyone was feeling. That was what made you the favorite counselor at the camp. Or at least, you were the favorite in my group. All the little eight-year-old boys I had to watch thought you were cute.

Do me a favor and help Sora play some jokes on Riku and Kairi and Roxas. (especially Riku.) He'll need your expertise in the area. Try not to scare any little kids like you did at camp. As funny as it was, I don't think I ever want to see that again.

You love Roxas. So do I. You'd think that would make us rivals for his love, but somehow we've always gotten along just fine. Don't let him get away. And take care of yourself. Don't get so lost in your art that you forget to eat. Don't throw yourself into your studies and forget your friends. Drink plenty of water and try to ditch all the coffee. You drink too much of it. Seriously. And most of all, get out there and have some fun. Indulge yourself a little. You can be too selfless sometimes.

Live strong.

Love,

_Axel_

P.S. Is there any chance of getting you to name a son after me?

* * *

To Roxas: 

Our time was cut short again, Roxy. The fates must be against us or something.

Hey, do me a favor and give Demyx a hug whenever you see him. The kid'll need it. Sure Zexy will probably glare at you for it, but it's not like he'll yell or try to kill you or anything. I'm the only person he's ever considered murdering, but you know me, I can bring out the "best" in people.

I have some rules for you. Think of them as my final requests.

One: Whenever you feel alone, remember those around you. Don't be afraid to lean on them for support. Namine cares for you more than you realize right now. Always count on her.

Two: Don't give up. This should be easy for you. You're stubborn enough that you'll refuse to give up. No matter how hard it seems, see it through.

Three: Never be afraid to try something new. You don't get out enough Roxy! One of these days you gotta get out and see the world! (at least it's all one world this time and now two-hundred million. Hey, it seemed like that many back then!) If not for you, then for me. When you get to the afterlife I want you to tell me everything you've seen and done.

Four: Fall in love again.

Five: Don't forget me.

Love you, Roxas.

Forever yours,

_Axel_

* * *

END

* * *

I'm still debating whether I'll do replies to the letters. I think I will. 


	15. Extra 2: Twilight Town

**Kairi and Namine's Trip to Twilight Town**

Namine leaned against the rail of the boat that was taking them across the water to Twilight Town. Her blue eyes were distant as she looked out at the horizon, a sign that she was thinking deeply about something. The wind playfully tugged at her hair and dress, making her feel at ease.

"Hey, Namine." Kairi said as she joined her friend at the rail. She rested her arms on top of the rail and looked curiously at the blonde. "Something wrong?"

Namine snapped out of her daze and gave Kairi a smile. "Nothing's wrong. Don't worry. I was just thinking, that's all."

"No worries then. Now, if you were Sora, then I'd be worried." Kairi said with a laugh.

Namine managed a small laugh before she looked back out over the water. "I would be too. Sora and thinking don't mix too well. Bad things always happen."

"Like the so-called 'great prank war'." Kairi reminisced. "Do you remember that?"

"The one that Sora and Roxas started against Riku and Tidus?" Namine asked curiously, not really remembering which prank war it was that came to be called the 'Great Prank War'.

Kairi shook her head. "No, that was the mini prank war of year 2000. I'm talking about the one where Sora, Riku, Tidus, the girl Rikku, Baralai, and Zack teamed up against Roxas, Wakka, Lulu, Yuna, Gippal, and Cloud. The big one that just happened last year."

Namine giggled at the memory of the huge prank war. She and Kairi had stayed out of that one until the very end, when Kairi went and joined Sora's team and Namine joined Roxas's team. "I do remember." She said, smiling. "That was something else, wasn't it? How many places did we get banned from? Do you remember?"

"No!" Kairi said with a laugh. "I lost count after the first five places. I don't even remember exactly what places we got banned from either. Do you remember any of them?"

"Applebee's is one I really remember." Namine said. "That one and the big supermarket that we can't stand not going to at least twice a week. And the roller-skating place." She added as an afterthought. "But that was all Sora's fault because he rolled into the costumed guy when he 'lost control' of his skating."

"Because Wakka pushed him." Kairi defended her friend. "Wakka shoved him out into the skating rink and Sora couldn't slow down in time."

"Or swerve?" Namine asked.

Kairi grinned. "Hey, the guy was lucky enough that Sora didn't run over the guy's d--"

"Kairi!" Namine exclaimed.

"I was going to say 'dog', what were you thinking?" Kairi teased.

"You were not!" Namine said, blushing. "And you know very well what I thought you were going to say! I'm not saying that out loud!"

The two continued to playfully bicker and tease each other for the rest of the boat trip and even as they got off the boat at Twilight Town. That was when Kairi saw Pence for the first time in real life. She blushed.

"Kairi?" Namine asked curiously, poking her friend in the side. "Kai? Are you alright?"

Kairi slowly nodded. "Uh-huh. I'm fine." She gripped Namine's arm and looked straight at Pence. "It's him."

Namine followed Kairi's gaze and smiled. "Yes, Kairi. It is him. Way to point out the obvious."

Kairi self-consciously smoothed out her hair and then tucked it behind her ear. "What if he doesn't like me?" She whispered. "What if he think's I'm just a spoiled rich girl and wants nothing more to do with me?"

Namine almost snorts and rolls her eyes, but instead she pats Kairi on the back comfortingly. "He'll like you, Kai. And I'm sure he won't think you're just a spoiled rich girl." She resists the urge to say, _"Even if you are, a little."_ because she knows it won't help her friend at all. "Now go say 'hi' to him before he thinks you forgot to come." She gives Kairi a gentle push toward the brunet boy, who was craning his head to search for them.

Kairi stumbled forward and then stopped. Namine sighed and then took her friend's hand and led her over to Pence before she let go.

"Kairi?" Pence asked, a smile slowly making it's way across his face.

Kairi shyly smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear again. "Hi, Pence."

Namine watched the two interact with a small smile on her face. She couldn't help but think, _'Maybe things will turn out alright after all. This could be just what Kairi needs.'_

Half an hour later found the two girls and Pence sitting in the corner of an alleyway with two other people, a blond boy named Hayner and a brunette girl named Olette. They called their corner of the alley the 'Usual Spot' and had decorated it with a couch, a dark board, posters, and various other things.

The five were laughing and carrying on like they had been friends forever, although Hayner and Namine had clashed at first. Hayner swore that he had seen Namine before and Namine politely informed him that she hadn't been in Twilight Town in years and that even when she did live there that there was no way they could have met.

"How long are you guys staying?" Olette asked excitedly. It wasn't often that the three of them got to meet people from out of town. Especially not people like Kairi and Namine.

"Just a few days." Kairi told them. "We've been on spring break for a little over a week now, so we only have a few days left."

"Man you're lucky!" Hayner exclaimed. "We're lucky if we even get a week off around here. Stupid school system." He muttered under his breath, hoping that Olette wouldn't hit him or yell at him. She'd do that whenever he'd say something against the school.

Olette merely glared at him and then turned her attention back to Kairi. "Do you guys ever get projects to work on over the breaks? We've got one in our class to go around and pick one of the seven mysterious of Twilight Town. Hayner, Pence, and I chose the mysterious old mansion through the woods."

Namine seemed to stiffen at the mention of the old mansion, but no one else noticed.

"Old mansion?" Kairi asked, sounding interesting. "What's so mysterious about an old mansion?"

"It's been abandoned for years." Pence said. "No one knows who lived in it last, but there are rumors that someone died there. You see, whenever someone is dared to go into the house or camp out front for a whole night, they're frightened away by what everyone calls the 'White Ghost'. It's really creepy."

"I think it's a bunch of nonsense." Olette said, rolling her eyes. "It's just an old abandoned mansion and there are woods all around it, so of course it's going to be creepy. But there is no ghost."

"Yes there is!" Hayner argued hotly. "I've seen it!"

Olette sighed and gave Hayner a look. "You've seen it." She repeated, tonelessly. "Hayner, when did you ever go to that house without me or Pence with you? And why would you go without one of us?"

"Seifer dared me to." Hayner muttered.

Olette frowned, unable to hear what he said. "What was that?"

"I said, 'Seifer dared me to'." Hayner repeated. "So I went."

"Well, there you go!" Olette said in a decided tone. "Seifer dared you to stay there one night and then he and Fuu and Rai went out there and scared you. End of story."

Hayner wouldn't let the topic go that easily, and the two spent the next half hour arguing over it. Namine, Kairi, and Pence watched them argue, amused, but after a while they got tired of the argument and talked amongst themselves.

"Fine!" Hayner suddenly yelled, attracting the attention of Namine, Kairi, and Pence. "Then lets go to the old mansion right now and I'll prove to you that there is a ghost!"

"Fine!" Olette yelled, standing up. "And then you'll see what an idiot you're being when you see that _there is no ghost_!"

"Why don't they just kiss already." Kairi whispered to Pence, who laughed and attracted Olette and Hayner's attention.

"And what's so funny?" Olette demanded, putting her hands on her hips. "You three are coming with us too. I'll need someone there to back me up when Hayner finally figures out that there is no damn ghost!"

Pence's eyes widened. "Olette, did you just--"

"Cuss?" Olette interrupted. "Yes. Yes, I did. And it's all Hayner's fault!" She whirled around and glared at Hayner. "See what you've done!?"

Instead of backing down like a normal person would have, Hayner gets up and takes a step forward, matching her glare. "What the hell have I done?! You're the one who cussed! You can't blame me for that since it's you who said it!"

Olette stomped over to him and grabbed his arm roughly before she started to drag him from the Usual Spot. "Lets go. NOW!" She turned and yelled at the others, who jumped to their feet and followed the two, wide-eyed. None of them dared to argue with Olette when she was that angry. Hayner was the exception, obviously.

She led them, still dragging Hayner by the arm, through town and past several buildings before they came to a hole in one of the walls that went around the town. She shoved Hayner through first and then went after him. The others followed and found themselves in surprisingly dark and dense woods. Namine seemed to grow paler the further they went into the forest and Kairi stepped closer to Pence, a little nervous about being in the forest.

Hayner knew the path very well and soon they were out of the forest and standing in front of a tall cast-iron gate that barred their entrance into the mansion. Kairi went to get a closer look with Olette, Hayner, and Pence, but Namine hung back and looked at the mansion nervously. Eventually, Kairi noticed and waved for Namine to come over and join them.

"Namine, come on!" She called. "Come take a look at this place! It's bigger than some of the houses back home!"

Namine shook her head. "No, that's okay. I'm going to stay over here."

Kairi frowned and jogged over to join her friend. "Nami, what's wrong? You look awfully pale. Are you feeling all right?"

Namine shook her head. "Nothing's wrong and I feel fine. I just…" She rubbed her arm uncomfortably. "I don't like it here. Something bad happened here."

"Something… bad?" Kairi repeated, confused. "Like what?"

"It's nothing." Namine said, avoiding the topic. "It doesn't matter anymore. It happened years ago."

Kairi frowned and put her hands on her hips when she realized that Namine wasn't going to tell her. "Namine Skye Trepe! You are hiding something from me!"

Namine flinched at the use of her full name. "I am." She admitted. "But only because… because you don't need to know!"

If Kairi was surprised at all by Namine's small outburst, she didn't show it. "You don't have to tell me, Nami. If it bothers you that much, then I won't ask you again."

"I'm sorry, Kairi. I just… I'm not ready to talk about it." Namine apologized.

Kairi gave her friend a smile. "Okay. But you at least have to join the rest of us at the gate. Less questions will be asked that way."

Namine nodded and together she and Kairi walked over and joined the other three. Hayner was diligently searching for any sign of the ghost and Olette was glaring at him and had her arms crossed over her chest. Pence had been watching Namine and Kairi talk, and gave them a smile as they joined them.

"I didn't know your last name was 'Trepe', Namine." Pence remarked.

Namine's eyes widened. "How did you know that?"

"Kairi. She said your name loud enough for us to hear, although I doubt those two were paying any attention." Pence said, trying not to sigh at his friends' behavior. They were acting like five-year-olds.

"My last name is Trepe." Namine acknowledged. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason, really. It's just that the last people that owned the mansion was the Trepe family. Are you related to a Quistis Trepe?" Pence asked.

Namine nodded. "She's my cousin. My older cousin."

"Quistis?" Olette asked, taking her attention off of Hayner. "Isn't her mother the one who was murdered here in the mansion?"

"No!" Namine yelled, alarmed. "She wasn't murdered. She died in childbirth. Whoever said that she was murdered… that's a very cruel thing to say. No one would have ever even considered killing her. She… she was a very nice woman. She was kind to everyone, even the people who didn't like her."

Olette bit her lip. "Namine, I'm sorry. I didn't mean… I'm sorry."

Namine looked away from the others. "It's okay. It happened a long time ago. I barely even remember her. Quistis does, though. She missed her mom so much that she swore she saw her around the mansion for months afterwards. It scared my uncle so much that they finally just moved out, but no one else wanted it because they all thought it was haunted."

"Oh…"

After that, the subject was dropped. After a while, Hayner finally gave up on proving that the ghost was real. For the rest of Namine and Kairi's visit, they stayed away from the mansion and didn't bring up the topic again.

* * *

This one I like, although I think I hurried too much at the very end. I very much doubt that I'll go back and edit it. Right now, I just want to be done and over with this story so that I can finish up Herutsu no Oukoku and concentrate on some of my original stories. I'll probably continue to write KH fanfiction, but they may just be one-shots. And after HnO, I really want a break from the fanfiction world. (sighs) 


	16. Extra 3: Axel's Ashes

**Axel's Ashes**

It had been a whole month since Demyx dropped by to deliver letters to Sora, Riku, Roxas, Kairi, and Namine. It had been a whole month since Larxene's birthday. It had been a whole month since they had heard anything from the ex-Organization Thirteen members.

And then one day when Roxas, Namine, Sora, Riku, and Kairi were lounging around outside waiting for Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka to come over, Demyx and Zexion arrived in their backyard. Demyx was holding some sort of vase and Zexion looked as bored as ever.

"Demyx? Zexion?" Roxas asked, confused. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We were wondering if you wanted to come with us." Demyx said. "We… we're going to go do something that Axel asked us to do. You see, these are his ashes." He held up the vase for the others to see. Roxas could make out Axel's name engraved into the side, along with the number eight.

"And, what are you going to do with them exactly?" Kairi asked, her tone suggesting that she didn't really want to know but that she was curious. "It's not anything weird is it? Although since it is Axel that we're talking about it probably is something weird."

"Well," Demyx scratched the back of his neck. "I guess it is a little weird. You see, there is this old water tower that we used to always go to. It's close to where we lived, so it's practically on the other side of the island. Anyway, Axel loved going up there whenever we got the chance so we could watch the sunset or the sunrise. It didn't matter to him which one it was, although I think he preferred the sunset."

Roxas nodded. He understood that and agreed with Demyx that it was probably sunset that Axel liked the best. After all, when they were Nobodies it was the sunset that they'd watch from on top of the clock tower in Twilight Town.

"Before he…" Demyx swallowed. "Died, he asked us to erm… toss his ashes from the top of the water tower and let them blow away in the wind."

There was silence for a moment.

"Are you sure there were no explosions involved?" Kairi asked. "That sounds kind of… tame for Axel."

"We would have refused if explosions became involved." Zexion said. "Climbing up onto the rickety water tower is dangerous enough. He knew what we'd be risking by climbing up there." He eyed them all, wondering if any of them would be stupid enough to join Demyx, Larxene, and Marluxia in their quest to throw Axel's ashes from the top of the water tower.

"I'll go." Roxas spoke up. His eyes were determined. "I want to go."

Demyx smiled, although it wasn't like his usual happy smile. It was a sad smile. "Okay. Anyone else want to go?"

"I'll go too." Namine said. She was going to go to support Roxas. And Axel was her friend too.

Before they knew it, they were out the door and heading for the house where the eleven guys and Larxene lived to meet up with Larxene, Marluxia, and Xigbar, who was in a good enough mood to join them. Larxene looked a little surprised to see Namine there with Roxas, but she didn't say anything.

Together the seven trecked out through a small patch of palm and paopu trees to an old rickety water tower that no one used anymore. Xigbar went up first and Roxas wondered how safe it was to climb up there. The rust had eaten through the metal in some areas and some of the metal pieces, especially on the ladder, would grate against each other and make a loud screeching noise that made them all flinch.

Without incident, they made it up on top of the water tower and waited for the sun to set. While they waited they talked about everything and nothing. They had all agreed to wait until sunset to toss Axel's ashes into the wind, figuring that he would prefer it be done at sunset. Demyx suggested it. While they were waiting, Namine began to sing.

_When you walk away  
You don't hear me say please  
Oh baby, don't go  
Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight  
It's hard to let it go _

You're giving me too many things  
Lately you're all I need  
You smiled at me and said,

Don't get me wrong I love you  
But does that mean I have to meet your father?  
When we are older you'll understand  
What I meant when I said "No,  
I don't think life is quite that simple"

When you walk away  
You don't hear me say please  
Oh baby, don't go  
Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight  
It's hard to let it go

The daily things  
that keep us all busy  
all confusing me thats when u came to me and said,

Wish i could prove i love you  
but does that mean i have to walk on water?  
When we are older you'll understand  
It's enough when i say so,  
And maybe somethings are that simple

When you walk away  
You don't hear me say please  
Oh baby, don't go  
Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight  
It's hard to let it go

Hold me  
Whatever lies beyond this morning  
Is a little later on  
Regardless of warnings the future doesn't scare me at all  
Nothing's like before

When you walk away  
You don't hear me say please  
Oh baby, don't go  
Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight  
It's hard to let it go

Hold me  
Whatever lies beyond this morning  
Is a little later on  
Regardless of warnings the future doesn't scare me at all  
Nothing's like before

Hold me  
Whatever lies beyond this morning  
Is a little later on  
Regardless of warnings the future doesn't scare me at all  
Nothing's like before 

A silence settled over the group after Namine's song. And then the sun began to sink below the horizon and Demyx solemnly unscrewed the lid to the vase. He held it out to Larxene first, who raised an eyebrow.

"What are we suppose to do? Just reach in and take a handful? That's weird." She muttered.

"What do you suggest?" Demyx asked. "That we just dump it out and let it all fall to the ground in one place?! I don't know about you, but I'm going to do what Axel asked! It'll give him one less reason to pick on me and play jokes on me in the next life." Without warning, he reached into the jar and pulled out a handful of ash.

Zexion sighed and muttered something about idiotic, prideful boyfriends who don't think at all. And then he followed Demyx's lead and took a handful of ash. Soon everyone had some of Axel's ashes. (do you have any idea how weird that is to write?) And as the sky turned a bright shade of red, a wind kicked up and blew away all of the ashes.

The seven remained on top of the old water tower to finish watching the sunset, and then they carefully climbed down. Namine was the last to come down and when a bar on the tower's ladder broke and she fell and thankfully she was caught by Marluxia. They all vowed that that was the last time they would be going up the water tower.

They did visit the water tower from time to time, but none of them ever climbed up it to the top again. It was too dangerous.

* * *

I'm not too sure about how I feel about this one, but I figured I'd put it up anyway. There's alot of stuff that I hurriedly wrote today to meet the word-goal, but I won't be posting most of it. The song is there to boost word count. 


	17. Extra 4: Letters to Axel

**Letters to Axel**

Axel,

You're such an ass, you know that, right? And no, Riku did not appreciate your letter. (Even though me and Sora both laughed when we fished it out of the garbage later. Don't tell Riku!)

Okay, I've got a few things to tell you. First of all, lying is bad! And second of all, I already knew that you lied about all that stuff. Although I had forgotten about the clasp breaking, so I'm sorry for accusing you of stealing it. Thanks for fixing that, by the way. It means a lot to me that you actually felt bad enough that you went and got it fixed. I could have done without the added picture of you in it, but I guess that increases the sentimental value or something.

I did consider burning your letter when I first started reading it. You're so frustratingly annoying, did you know that? Of course you did. You go out of your way to be frustratingly annoying. And as much as I'd like to bring you back to life to kill you for telling me all of this after you're already dead, I don't think Roxas or Demyx would be very pleased with me if I did that. And if Roxas and Demyx are mad at me, then that would make Namine, Sora, and Zexion angry at me. And if they got angry with me then Riku and Marluxia would be mad at me. And so on and so forth. You're lucky you have so many people on your side.

Now, let me tell you all of the horrible things I did to _you _at summer camp. After you lit my bed on fire, I was the one who took all of your lighters and matches and hid them so you couldn't find them. Oh, and I was the one who put bleach in your shampoo. And here you kept thinking it was Demyx who did that. And you dropping my lucky penny in the lake wasn't the only reason I locked you out of the cabin that night. It was also because you left me alone with the entire group of 8-year-olds for _three hours_. I cannot handle three solid hours of watching over 8-year-olds by myself. And Demyx had already warned me that you would probably use him to get his revenge, so I wasn't too surprised when he "accidentally" knocked his orange juice all over my plate. And I don't know if you remember or not, but I got my revenge for that too. That was the day things kept hitting you in the head and all your favorite desserts were strangely absent from the dinner table.

See, you may be a bastard, but I can be a real bitch when I want to be.

Don't cause too much trouble, wherever you're at.

Your (loving) "sister",

_Kairi_

* * *

Axel,

Riku wasn't happy about what you wrote in your letter to me. And I don't think Roxas was happy either, but he laughed a little.

Things are kind of weird without you around to stir up trouble any more, but I guess Demyx does that enough on his own. The whole throwing ashes off the water tower was a little weird, but I wish now that I had gone with them to do that. Kairi kept talking about how she couldn't believe you didn't want us to attach your ashes to a firework and set it off. That would have been even weirder.

I always watch out for Roxas, whether he likes it or not, so you don't have to worry about him. And Kairi's my best friend, of course I'll watch out for her.

I'll see what I can do about the pranks. I did manage to pull a good one on Roxas the other day, but I think he knew it was me. Maybe I should get Namine to help me. If you say she can pull off some good pranks, then I believe you. She can be pretty sneaky at times.

I hope I don't get to see Namine and Marluxia teamed up next year. See, somehow she and Kairi have convinced me to go help out at the summer camp. Roxas is going to. It should be an interesting summer. It's too bad Riku flat-out refused, it sounds like a lot of fun!

They would never admit it, but Kairi and Roxas both miss you a lot.

So do I.

Riku doesn't. At all.

See you in the afterlife!

_Sora_

* * *

Bastard.

At first I wasn't even going to dignify your letter with a reply. But then I decided I should be the mature one and write a reasonable letter.

I don't like you, I'm sure that is very clear by now. I don't appreciate the way you flirted with Sora when you knew that the two of us were together. In fact, I think it's safe to say that I hate you.

Namine says that we could have been good friends, but I don't believe her.

_-Riku_

* * *

Dear Axel,

Things are finally settling down. It feels like everything was thrown out of balance when you died, but things are starting to even out again. We're actually getting smiles out of Roxas and Demyx for the first time in months and Kairi's not so angry about you not telling her you were going to die. She misses you more than she's willing to admit.

I'm sure you've been watching us to make sure we don't do anything too stupid. Demyx told me that you've visited him in a dream or two and for that I want to thank you. He probably took your death the hardest.

I promise I'll help Sora prank the others. Maybe I'll even add in your usual Axel flair. I just have to figure out how to use the fire in a more controlled situation. It wouldn't be a good thing if me and Sora accidentally burnt down someone's house, although I'm sure you would find it hilarious.

I do love Roxas. I have for a long time, but then I met you at camp and knew it was only a matter of time before you met Roxas again. But I wasn't going to let that get in the way of our friendship. I'll admit, I was jealous of you when Roxas started to hang out with you more, but then he'd come back home and talk to me every night so long as he wasn't out with you.

And you're just as bad with your art, so don't even try to tell me to not get lost in it and forget to eat. I get enough to eat, so don't worry about me. It's not like I only eat one meal a day, I just forget to eat lunch sometimes. And I'll see what I can do about cutting back on coffee, but I'm not promising anything!

I do miss you Axel. I wish you were still here.

Love,

_Namine_

P.S. I don't know about naming a son after you. I don't think I want a crazy, red-haired son who likes playing with fire and annoying other pretty redheads and flirting with blond boys. (I kid, of course.) Maybe I can get Kairi to name her son after you.

* * *

Axel,

I don't know what to say. I mean, one day you're here and the next you're just... gone. It hurts knowing that I won't see you again.

I've been having alot of dreams lately, of all of the times we've spent together. Some of them are from this life and others are from our previous one. You've always been a pain in the ass.

Demyx gives me a hug whenever he sees me. There's not much I can do to stop him and Zexion doesn't hold him back at all. So you don't have to tell me to give him a hug whenever I see him, because he does that for me.

Oh yes, you've always brought out "the best" in people. I don't think I've ever heard of Kairi being so angry with someone.

I'll try and follow your rules. Except for the traveling the worlds one. I think that this time I'm going to take it easy and stay right here on Destiny Island. Although it would be nice to go visit Twilight Town again one of these days. Maybe I'll go to college there.

I miss you, Axel. More than anyone knows.

I love you.

Forever yours,

_Roxas_

* * *

End

* * *

There we go. I finally got the reply letters all written and ready to be posted! I apologize in advance for any mistakes you find. 


End file.
